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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Hunting with the Bow and Arrow, by Saxton Pope
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
+other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
+the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
+www.gutenberg.org.  If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
+to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
+
+Title: Hunting with the Bow and Arrow
+
+Author: Saxton Pope
+
+Posting Date: February 21, 2015 [EBook #8084]
+Release Date: May, 2005
+First Posted: June 13, 2003
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HUNTING WITH THE BOW AND ARROW ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Eric Eldred, Marvin A. Hodges, Tonya Allen,
+Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: THE SHADES OF SHERWOOD FOREST]
+
+HUNTING with the
+
+BOW & ARROW
+
+By
+
+Saxton Pope
+
+With 48 Illustrations
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+DEDICATED
+
+TO
+
+ROBIN HOOD
+
+A SPIRIT THAT AT SOME TIME DWELLS IN
+
+THE HEART OF EVERY YOUTH
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+I.--THE STORY OF THE LAST YANA INDIAN.
+
+II.--ISHI'S BOW AND ARROW.
+
+III.--ISHI'S METHODS OF HUNTING.
+
+IV.--ARCHERY IN GENERAL.
+
+V.--HOW TO MAKE A BOW.
+
+VI.--HOW TO MAKE AN ARROW.
+
+VII.--ARCHERY EQUIPMENT.
+
+VIII.--HOW TO SHOOT.
+
+IX.--THE PRINCIPLES OF HUNTING.
+
+X.--THE RACCOON, WILDCAT, FOX, COON, CAT, AND WOLF.
+
+XI.--DEER HUNTING.
+
+XII.--BEAR HUNTING.
+
+XIII.--MOUNTAIN LIONS.
+
+XIV.--GRIZZLY BEAR.
+
+XV.--ALASKAN ADVENTURES.
+
+    A CHAPTER OF ENCOURAGEMENT BY STEWART EDWARD WHITE.
+
+    THE UPSHOT.
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+THE SHADES OF SHERWOOD FOREST
+
+A DEATH MASK OF ISHI
+
+ISHI AND APPERSON
+
+CALLING GAME IN AMBUSH
+
+THE INDIAN'S FAVORITE SHOOTING POSITION
+
+CHOPPING OUT A JUNIPER BOW
+
+OUR CARAVAN LEAVING DEER CREEK CANYON
+
+ISHI FLAKING AN OBSIDIAN ARROW HEAD
+
+THE INDIAN AND A DEER
+
+THREE TYPES OF HUNTING ARROWS
+
+A BLUNT ARROW SHOT THROUGH AN INCH BOARD
+
+"BRER" FOX UP A TREE
+
+ART YOUNG SHOOTS FISH
+
+DETAILS OF BOW CONSTRUCTION
+
+SEVERAL STEPS IN ARROW MAKING
+
+ARROW HEADS OF VARIOUS SORTS USED IN HUNTING
+
+NECESSARY ARCHERY EQUIPMENT
+
+AN ARCHER'S MEASURE, A FISTMELE
+
+THE ENGLISH METHOD OF DRAWING THE ARROW
+
+NOCKING THE SHAFT ON THE STRING
+
+THE LONG BOW FULL DRAWN
+
+WILL AND MAURICE THOMPSON, AS THEY APPEARED IN 1878
+
+SHOOTING BRUSH RABBITS
+
+ARCHERS IN AMBUSH
+
+ISHI RIDING A HORSE FOR THE FIRST TIME
+
+A REST AT NOON
+
+A LYNX THAT MET AN ARCHER
+
+THE CHIEF LOOKING OVER GOOD DEER COUNTRY
+
+MR. COON BROUGHT INTO CAMP
+
+A PRETTY PAIR OF WINGS
+
+JUST A LITTLE HUNT BEFORE BREAKFAST
+
+YOUNG AND COMPTON WITH A QUAIL APIECE
+
+WOODCHUCKS GALORE!
+
+PORCUPINE QUILLS TO DECORATE A QUIVER
+
+A FATAL ARROW AT 65 YARDS
+
+THE CHIEF AND ART GET A BUCK AT 85 YARDS
+
+TOM MURPHY WITH HIS TWO BEST DOGS, BUTTON AND BALDY
+
+YOUNG AND I ARE VERY PROUD OF OUR MAIDEN BEAR
+
+ARTHUR YOUNG AND HIS COUGAR
+
+OUR FIRST MOUNTAIN LION
+
+WE PACK THE PANTHER TO CAMP
+
+CAMP AT SQUAW LAKE, WYOMING
+
+THE RESULT OF OUR FIRST ENCOUNTER WITH GRIZZLY BEAR
+
+BRINGING HOME THE TROPHIES
+
+LOOKING FOR GRIZZLIES ON CUB CREEK
+
+THE TREE THAT NED FROST CLIMBED TO ESCAPE DEATH
+
+MY FEMALE GRIZZLY AND THE ARROW THAT KILLED HER
+
+ARTHUR YOUNG SLAYS THE MONARCH OF THE MOUNTAINS
+
+BULL MOOSE BAGGED ON THE KENAI PENINSULA
+
+THE GREAT KADIAC BEAR BROUGHT LOW
+
+ARTHUR YOUNG OUTWITS THE ALASKA BIGHORN
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Hunting with the Bow and Arrow
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+
+THE STORY OF THE LAST YANA INDIAN
+
+
+The glory and romance of archery culminated in England before the
+discovery of America. There, no doubt, the bow was used to its greatest
+perfection, and it decided the fate of nations. The crossbow and the
+matchlock had supplanted the longbow when Columbus sailed for the New
+World.
+
+It was, therefore, a distinct surprise to the first explorers of
+America that the natives used the bow and arrow so effectively. In
+fact, the sword and the horse, combined with the white man's
+superlative self-assurance, won the contest over the aborigines more
+than the primitive blunderbuss of the times. The bow and arrow was
+still more deadly than the gun.
+
+With the gradual extermination of the American Indian, the westward
+march of civilization, and the improvement in firearms, this contest
+became more and more unequal, and the bow disappeared from the land.
+The last primitive Indian archer was discovered in California in the
+year 1911.
+
+When the white pioneers of California descended through the northern
+part of that State by the Lassen trail, they met with a tribe of
+Indians known as the Yana, or Yahi. That is the name they called
+themselves. Their neighbors called them the Nozi, and the white men
+called them the Deer Creek or Mill Creek Indians. Different from the
+other tribes of this territory, the Yana would not submit without a
+struggle to the white man's conquest of their lands.
+
+The Yana were hunters and warriors. The usual California natives were
+yellow in color, fat and inclined to be peaceable. The Yana were
+smaller of stature, lithe, of reddish bronze complexion, and instead of
+being diggers of roots, they lived by the salmon spear and the bow.
+Their range extended over an area south of Mount Lassen, east of the
+Sacramento River, for a distance of fifty miles.
+
+From the earliest settlement of the whites, hostilities existed between
+them. This resulted in definitely organized expeditions against these
+Indians, and the annual slaughter of hundreds.
+
+The last big round-up of Mill Creek Indians occurred in 1872, when
+their tribe was surprised at its seasonal harvest of acorns. Upon this
+occasion a posse of whites killed such a number of natives that it is
+said the creek was damned with dead bodies. An accurate account of
+these days may be obtained from Watterman's paper on the Yana Indians.
+[1][Footnote 1: Vol. 13, No. 2, _Am. Archaeology and Ethnology_.]
+
+During one of the final raids upon the Yana, a little band of Indian
+women and children hid in a cave. Here they were discovered and
+murdered in cold blood. One of the white scouting party laconically
+stated that he used his revolver to blow out their brains because the
+rifle spattered up the cave too much.
+
+So it came to pass, that from two or three thousand people, the Yana
+were reduced to less than a dozen who escaped extermination. These were
+mainly women, old men and children. This tribal remnant sought the
+refuge of the impenetrable brush and volcanic rocks of Deer Creek
+Canyon. Here they lived by stealth and cunning. Like wild creatures,
+they kept from sight until the whites quite forgot their existence.
+
+It became almost a legend that wild Indians lived in the Mount Lassen
+district. From time to time ranchers or sheep herders reported that
+their flocks had been molested, that signs of Indians had been found or
+that arrowheads were discovered in their sheep. But little credence was
+given these rumors until the year 1908, when an electric power company
+undertook to run a survey line across Deer Creek Canyon with the object
+of constructing a dam.
+
+One evening, as a party of linemen stood on a log at the edge of the
+deep swift stream debating the best place to ford, a naked Indian rose
+up before them, giving a savage snarl and brandishing a spear. In an
+instant the survey party disbanded, fell from the log, and crossed the
+stream in record-breaking time. When they stopped to get their breath,
+the Indian had disappeared. This was the first appearance of Ishi, [2]
+[Footnote 2: Ishi is pronounced "E-she."] the Yana.
+
+Next morning an exploring expedition set out to verify the excited
+report of the night before. The popular opinion was that no such
+wildman existed, and that the linemen had been seeing things. One of
+the group offered to bet that no signs of Indians would be found.
+
+As the explorers reached the slide of volcanic boulders where the
+apparition of the day before had disappeared, two arrows flew past
+them. They made a run for the top of the slide and reached it just in
+time to see two Indians vanish in the brush. They left behind them an
+old white-haired squaw, whom they had been carrying. She was partially
+paralyzed, and her legs were bound in swaths of willow bark, seemingly
+in an effort to strengthen them.
+
+The old squaw was wrinkled with age, her hair was cropped short as a
+sign of mourning, and she trembled with fear. The white men approached
+and spoke kindly to her in Spanish. But she seemed not to understand
+their words, and apparently expected only death, for in the past to
+meet a white man was to die. They gave her water to drink, and tried to
+make her call back her companions, but without avail.
+
+Further search disclosed two small brush huts hidden among the laurel
+trees. So cleverly concealed were these structures that one could pass
+within a few yards and not discern them. In one of the huts acorns and
+dried salmon had been stored; the other was their habitation. There was
+a small hearth for indoor cooking; bows, arrows, fishing tackle, a few
+aboriginal utensils and a fur robe were found. These were confiscated
+in the white man's characteristic manner. They then left the place and
+returned to camp.
+
+Next day the party revisited the site, hoping to find the rest of the
+Indians. These, however, had gone forever.
+
+Nothing more was seen or heard of this little band until the year 1911,
+when on the outskirts of Oroville, some thirty-two miles from the Deer
+Creek camp, a lone survivor appeared. Early in the morning, brought to
+bay by a barking dog, huddled in the corner of a corral, was an
+emaciated naked Indian. So strange was his appearance and so alarmed
+was the butcher's boy who found him, that a hasty call for the town
+constable brought out an armed force to capture him.
+
+Confronted with guns, pistols, and handcuffs, the poor man was sick
+with fear. He was taken to the city jail and locked up for safekeeping.
+There he awaited death. For years he had believed that to fall into the
+hands of white men meant death. All his people had been killed by
+whites; no other result could happen. So he waited in fear and
+trembling. They brought him food, but he would not eat; water, but he
+would not drink. They asked him questions, but he could not speak. With
+the simplicity of the white man, they brought him other Indians of
+various tribes, thinking that surely all "Diggers" were the same. But
+their language was as strange to him as Chinese or Greek.
+
+And so they thought him crazy. His hair was burnt short, his feet had
+never worn shoes, he had small bits of wood in his nose and ears; he
+neither ate, drank, nor slept. He was indeed wild or insane.
+
+By this time the news of the wild Indian got into the city papers, and
+Professor T. T. Watterman, of the Department of Anthropology at the
+University of California, was sent to investigate the case. He
+journeyed to Oroville and was brought into the presence of this strange
+Indian. Having knowledge of many native dialects, Dr. Watterman tried
+one after the other on the prisoner. Through good fortune, some of the
+Yana vocabulary had been preserved in the records of the University.
+Venturing upon this lost language, Watterman spoke in Yana the words,
+_Siwini_, which means pine wood, tapping at the same time the edge of
+the cot on which they sat.
+
+In wonderment, the Indian's face lighted with faint recognition.
+Watterman repeated the charm, and like a spell the man changed from a
+cowering, trembling savage. A furtive smile came across his face. He
+said in his language, _I nu ma Yaki_--"Are you an Indian?" Watterman
+assured him that he was.
+
+A great sense of relief entered the situation. Watterman had discovered
+one of the lost tribes of California; Ishi had discovered a friend.
+
+They clothed him and fed him, and he learned that the white man was
+good.
+
+Since no formal charges were lodged against the Indian, and he seemed
+to have no objection, Watterman took him to San Francisco, and there,
+attached to the Museum of Anthropology, he became a subject of study
+and lived happily for five years.
+
+From him it was learned that his people were all dead. The old woman
+seen in the Deer Creek episode was his mother; the old man was his
+uncle. These died on a long journey to Mt. Lassen, soon after their
+discovery. Here he had burned their bodies and gone into mourning. The
+fact that the white men took their means of procuring food, as well as
+their clothing, contributed, no doubt, to the death of the older
+people.
+
+Half starved and hopeless, he had wandered into civilization. His
+father, once the chieftain of the Yana tribe, having domain over all
+the country immediately south of Mt. Lassen, was long since gone, and
+with him all his people. Ranchers and stockmen had usurped their
+country, spoiled the fishing, and driven off the game. The acorn trees
+of the valleys had been taken from them; nothing remained but evil
+spirits in the land of his forefathers.
+
+Now, however, he had found kindly people who fed him, clothed him, and
+taught him the mysteries of civilization. When asked his name, he said:
+"I have none, because there were no people to name me," meaning that no
+tribal ceremony had been performed. But the old people had called him
+Ishi, which means "strong and straight one," for he was the youth of
+their camp. He had learned to make fire with sticks; he knew the lost
+art of chipping arrowheads from flint and obsidian; he was the
+fisherman and the hunter. He knew nothing of our modern life. He had no
+name for iron, nor cloth, nor horse, nor road. He was as primitive as
+the aborigines of the pre-Columbian period. In fact, he was a man in
+the Stone Age. He was absolutely untouched by civilization. In him
+science had a rare find. He turned back the pages of history countless
+centuries. And so they studied him, and he studied them.
+
+From him they learned little of his personal history and less of that
+of his family, because an Indian considers it unbecoming to speak much
+of his own life, and it brings ill luck to speak of the dead. He could
+not pronounce the name of his father without calling him from the land
+of spirits, and this he could only do for some very important reason.
+But he knew the full history of his tribe and their destruction.
+
+His apparent age was about forty years, yet he undoubtedly was nearer
+sixty. Because of his simple life he was in physical prime, mentally
+alert, and strong in body.
+
+He was about five feet eight inches tall, well proportioned, had
+beautiful hands and unspoiled feet.
+
+His features were less aquiline than those of the Plains Indian, yet
+strongly marked outlines, high cheek bones, large intelligent eyes,
+straight black hair, and fine teeth made him good to look upon.
+
+As an artisan he was very skilful and ingenious. Accustomed to
+primitive tools of stone and bone, he soon learned to use most expertly
+the knife, file, saw, vise, hammer, ax, and other modern implements.
+
+Although he marveled at many of our inventions and appreciated matches,
+he took great pride in his ability to make fire with two sticks of
+buckeye. This he could do in less than two minutes by twirling one on
+the other.
+
+About this time I became an instructor in surgery at the University
+Medical School, which is situated next to the Museum. Ishi was employed
+here in a small way as a janitor to teach him modern industry and the
+value of money. He was perfectly happy and a great favorite with
+everybody.
+
+From his earliest experience with our community life he manifested
+little immunity to disease. He contracted all the epidemic infections
+with which he was brought in contact. He lived a very hygienic
+existence, having excellent food and sleeping outdoors, but still he
+was often sick. Because of this I came in touch with him as his
+physician in the hospital, and soon learned to admire him for the fine
+qualities of his nature.
+
+[Illustration: A DEATH MASK OF ISHI, THE LAST YANA INDIAN]
+
+Though very reserved, he was kindly, honest, cleanly, and trustworthy.
+More than this, he had a superior philosophy of life, and a high moral
+standard.
+
+By degrees I learned to speak his dialect, and spent many hours in his
+company. He told us the folk lore of his tribe. More than forty myths
+or animal stories of his have been recorded and preserved. They are as
+interesting as the stories of Uncle Remus. The escapades of wildcat,
+the lion, the grizzly bear, the bluejay, the lizard, and the coyote are
+as full of excitement and comedy as any fairy story.
+
+He knew the history and use of everything in the outdoor world. He
+spoke the language of the animals. He taught me to make bows and
+arrows, how to shoot them, and how to hunt, Indian fashion. He was a
+wonderful companion in the woods, and many days and nights we journeyed
+together.
+
+After he had been with us three years we took him back to his own
+country. But he did not want to stay. He liked the ways of the white
+man, and his own land was full of the spirits of the departed.
+
+He showed us old forgotten camp sites where past chieftains made their
+villages. He took us to deer licks and ambushes used by his people long
+ago. One day in passing the base of a great rock he scratched with his
+toe and dug up the bones of a bear's paw. Here, in years past, they had
+killed and roasted a bear. This was the camp of _Ya mo lo ku_. His own
+camp was called _Wowomopono Tetna_ or bear wallow.
+
+We swam the streams together, hunted deer and small game, and at night
+sat under the stars by the camp fire, where in a simple way we talked
+of old heroes, the worlds above us, and his theories of the life to
+come in the land of plenty, where the bounding deer and the mighty bear
+met the hunter with his strong bow and swift arrows.
+
+I learned to love Ishi as a brother, and he looked upon me as one of
+his people. He called me _Ku wi_, or Medicine Man; more, perhaps,
+because I could perform little sleight of hand tricks, than because of
+my profession.
+
+But, in spite of the fact that he was happy and surrounded by the most
+advanced material culture, he sickened and died. Unprotected by
+hereditary or acquired immunity, he contracted tuberculosis and faded
+away before our eyes. Because he had no natural resistance, he received
+no benefit from such hygienic measures as serve to arrest the disease
+in the Caucasian. We did everything possible for him, and nursed him to
+the painful bitter end.
+
+When his malady was discovered, plans were made to take him back to the
+mountains whence he came and there have him cared for properly. We
+hoped that by this return to his natural elements he would recover. But
+from the inception of his disease he failed so rapidly that he was not
+strong enough to travel.
+
+Consumed with fever and unable to eat nourishing food, he seemed doomed
+from the first. After months of misery he suddenly developed a
+tremendous pulmonary hemorrhage. I was with him at the time, directed
+his medication, and gently stroked his hand as a small sign of
+fellowship and sympathy. He did not care for marked demonstrations of
+any sort.
+
+He was a stoic, unafraid, and died in the faith of his people.
+
+As an Indian should go, so we sent him on his long journey to the land
+of shadows. By his side we placed his fire sticks, ten pieces of
+dentalia or Indian money, a small bag of acorn meal, a bit of dried
+venison, some tobacco, and his bow and arrows.
+
+These were cremated with him and the ashes placed in an earthen jar. On
+it is inscribed "Ishi, the last Yana Indian, 1916."
+
+And so departed the last wild Indian of America. With him the neolithic
+epoch terminates. He closes a chapter in history. He looked upon us as
+sophisticated children--smart, but not wise. We knew many things and
+much that is false. He knew nature, which is always true. His were the
+qualities of character that last forever. He was essentially kind; he
+had courage and self-restraint, and though all had been taken from him,
+there was no bitterness in his heart. His soul was that of a child, his
+mind that of a philosopher.
+
+With him there was no word for good-by. He said: "You stay, I go."
+
+He has gone and he hunts with his people. We stay, and he has left us
+the heritage of the bow.
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+
+HOW ISHI MADE HIS BOW AND ARROW AND HIS METHODS OF SHOOTING
+
+
+Although much has been written in history and fiction concerning the
+archery of the North American Indian, strange to say, very little has
+been recorded of the methods of manufacture of their weapons, and less
+in accurate records of their shooting.
+
+It is a great privilege to have lived with an unspoiled aborigine and
+seen him step by step construct the most perfect type of bow and arrow.
+
+The workmanship of Ishi was by far the best of any Indian in America;
+compared with thousands of specimens in the museum, his arrows were the
+most carefully and beautifully made; his bow was the best.
+
+It would take too much time to go into the minute details of his work,
+and this has all been recorded in anthropologic records, [1]
+[Footnote 1: See _Yahi Archery_, Vol. 13, No. 3, _Am. Archaeology and
+Ethnology_.]
+but the outlines of his methods are as follows:
+
+The bow, Ishi called _man-nee_. It was a short, flat piece of mountain
+juniper backed with sinew. The length was forty-two inches, or, as he
+measured it, from the horizontally extended hand to the opposite hip.
+It was broadest at the center of each limb, approximately two inches,
+and half an inch thick. The cross-section of this part was elliptical.
+At the center of the bow the handgrip was about an inch and a quarter
+wide by three-quarters thick, a cross-section being ovoid. At the tips
+it was curved gently backward and measured at the nocks three-quarters
+by one-half an inch. The nock itself was square shouldered and
+terminated in a pin half an inch in diameter and an inch long.
+
+The wood was obtained by splitting a limb from a tree and utilizing the
+outer layers, including the sap wood. By scraping and rubbing on
+sandstone, he shaped and finished it. The recurved tips of the bow he
+made by bending the wood backward over a heated stone. Held in shape by
+cords and binding to another piece of wood, he let his bow season in a
+dark, dry place. Here it remained from a few months to years, according
+to his needs. After being seasoned he backed it with sinew. First he
+made a glue by boiling salmon skin and applying it to the roughened
+back of the bow. When it was dry he laid on long strips of deer sinew
+obtained from the leg tendons. By chewing these tendons and separating
+their fibers, they became soft and adhesive. Carefully overlapping the
+ends of the numerous fibers he covered the entire back very thickly. At
+the nocks he surrounded the wood completely and added a circular
+binding about the bow.
+
+During the process of drying he bound the sinew tightly to the bow with
+long, thin strips of willow bark. After several days he removed this
+bandage and smoothed off the edges of the dry sinew, sized the surface
+with more glue and rubbed everything smooth with sandstone. Then he
+bound the handgrip for a space of four inches with a narrow buckskin
+thong.
+
+In his native state he seems never to have greased his bow nor
+protected it from moisture, except by his bow case, which was made of
+the skin from a cougar's tail. But while with us he used shellac to
+protect the glue and wood. Other savages use buck fat or bear grease.
+
+The bowstring he made of the finer tendons from the deer's shank. These
+he chewed until soft, then twisted them tightly into a cord having a
+permanent loop at one end and a buckskin strand at the other. While wet
+the string was tied between two twigs and rubbed smooth with spittle.
+Its diameter was one-eighth of an inch, its length about forty-eight
+inches. When dry the loop was applied to the upper nock of his bow
+while he bent the bow over his knee and wound the opposite end of the
+string about the lower nock. The buckskin thong terminating this
+portion of the string made it easier to tie in several half hitches.
+
+When braced properly the bowstring was about five inches from the belly
+of the bow. And when not in use and unstrung the upper loop was slipped
+entirely off the nock, but held from falling away from the bow by a
+second small loop of buckskin.
+
+Drawn to the full length of an arrow, which was about twenty-six
+inches, exclusive of the foreshaft, his bow bent in a perfect arc
+slightly flattened at the handle. Its pull was about forty-five pounds,
+and it could shoot an arrow about two hundred yards.
+
+This is not the most powerful type of weapon known to Indians, and even
+Ishi did make stronger bows when he pleased; but this seemed to be the
+ideal weight for hunting, and it certainly was adequate in his hands.
+
+According to English standards, it was very short; but for hunting in
+the brush and shooting from crouched postures, it seems better fitted
+for the work than a longer weapon.
+
+According to Ishi, a bow left strung or standing in an upright
+position, gets tired and sweats. When not in use it should be lying
+down; no one should step over it; no child should handle it, and no
+woman should touch it. This brings bad luck and makes it shoot crooked.
+To expunge such an influence it is necessary to wash the bow in sand
+and water.
+
+In his judgment, a good bow made a musical note when strung and the
+string is tapped with the arrow. This was man's first harp, the great
+grandfather of the pianoforte.
+
+By placing one end of his bow at the corner of his open mouth and
+tapping the string with an arrow, the Yana could make sweet music. It
+sounded like an Aeolian harp. To this accompaniment Ishi sang a
+folk-song telling of a great warrior whose bow was so strong that,
+dipping his arrow first in fire, then in the ocean, he shot at the sun.
+As swift as the wind, his arrow flew straight in the round open door of
+the sun and put out its light. Darkness fell upon the earth and men
+shivered with cold. To prevent themselves from freezing they grew
+feathers, and thus our brothers, the birds, were born.
+
+Ishi called an arrow _sa wa_.
+
+In making arrows the first thing is to get the shafts. Ishi used many
+woods, but he preferred witch hazel. The long, straight stems of this
+shrub he cut in lengths of thirty-two inches, having a diameter of
+three-eighths of an inch at the base when peeled of bark.
+
+He bound a number of these together and put them away in a shady place
+to dry. After a week or more, preferably several months, he selected
+the best shafts and straightened them. This he accomplished by holding
+the concave surface near a small heap of hot embers and when warm he
+either pressed his great toe on the opposite side, or he bent the wood
+backward on the base of the thumb. Squinting down its axis he lined up
+the uneven contours one after the other and laid the shaft aside until
+a series of five was completed. He made up arrows in lots of five or
+ten, according to the requirements, his fingers being the measure.
+
+The sticks thus straightened he ran back and forth between two grooved
+pieces of sandstone or revolved them on his thigh while holding the
+stones in his hand, until they were smooth and reduced to a diameter of
+about five-sixteenths of an inch. Next they were cut into lengths of
+approximately twenty-six inches. The larger end was now bound with a
+buckskin thong and drilled out for the depth of an inch and a half to
+receive the end of the foreshaft. He drilled this hole by fixing a
+long, sharp bone in the ground between his great toes and revolved the
+upright shaft between his palms on this fixed point, the buckskin
+binding keeping the wood from splitting.
+
+The foreshaft was made of heavier wood, frequently mountain mahogany.
+It was the same diameter as the arrow, only tapering a trifle toward
+the front end, and usually was about six inches long. This was
+carefully shaped into a spindle at the larger end and set in the
+recently drilled hole of the shaft, using glue or resin for this
+purpose. The joint was bound with chewed sinew, set in glue.
+
+The length of an arrow, over all, was estimated by Ishi in this manner.
+He placed one end on the top of his breast-bone and held the other end
+out in his extended left hand. Where it touched the tip of his
+forefinger it was cut as the proper length. This was about thirty-two
+inches.
+
+The rear end of his arrow was now notched to receive the bowstring. He
+filed it with a bit of obsidian, or later on, with three hacksaw blades
+bound together until he made a groove one-eighth of an inch wide by
+three-eighths deep. The opposite end of the shaft was notched in a
+similar way to receive the head. The direction of this latter cut was
+such that when the arrow was on the bow the edge of the arrowhead was
+perpendicular, for the fancied reason that in this position the arrow
+when shot enters between the ribs of an animal more readily. He did not
+seem to recognize that an arrow rotates.
+
+At this stage he painted his shafts. The pigments used in the wilds
+were red cinnabar, black pigment from the eye of trout, a green
+vegetable dye from wild onions, and a blue obtained, he said, from the
+root of a plant. These were mixed with the sap or resin of trees and
+applied with a little stick or hairs from a fox's tail drawn through a
+quill.
+
+His usual design was a series of alternating rings of green and black
+starting two inches from the rear end and running four inches up the
+shaft. Or he made small circular dots and snaky lines running down the
+shaft for a similar distance. When with us he used dry colors mixed
+with shellac, which he preferred to oil paints because they dried
+quicker. The painted area, intended for the feathers, is called the
+shaftment and not only helps in finding lost arrows, but identifies the
+owner. This entire portion he usually smeared with thin glue or sizing.
+
+A number of shafts having been similarly prepared, the Indian was ready
+to feather them. A feather he called _pu nee_. In fledging arrows Ishi
+used eagle, buzzard, hawk or flicker feathers. Owl feathers Indians
+seem to avoid, thinking they bring bad luck. By preference he took them
+from the wings, but did not hesitate to use tail feathers if reduced to
+it. With us he used turkey pinions.
+
+Grasping one between the heel of his two palms he carefully separated
+the bristles at the tip of the feather with his fingers and pulled them
+apart, splitting the quill its entire length. This is called stripping
+a feather. Taking the wider half he firmly held one end on a rock with
+his great toe, and the other end between the thumb and forefinger of
+his left hand. With a piece of obsidian, or later on a knife blade, he
+scraped away the pith until the rib was thin and flat.
+
+Having prepared a sufficient number in this way he gathered them in
+groups of three, all from similar wings, tied them with a bit of string
+and dropped them in a vessel of water. When thoroughly wet and limp
+they were ready for use.
+
+While he chewed up a strand of sinew eight or ten inches long, he
+picked up a group of feathers, stripped off the water, removed one, and
+after testing its strength, folded the last two inches of bristles down
+on the rib, and the rest he ruffled backward, thus leaving a free space
+for later binding. He prepared all three like this.
+
+Picking up an arrow shaft he clamped it between his left arm and chest,
+holding the rear end above the shaftment in his left hand. Twirling it
+slowly in this position, he applied one end of the sinew near the nock,
+fixing it by overlapping. The first movements were accomplished while
+holding one extremity of the sinew in his teeth; later, having applied
+the feathers to the stick, he shifted the sinew to the grasp of the
+right thumb and forefinger.
+
+One by one he laid the feathers in position, binding down the last two
+inches of stem and the wet barbs together. The first feather he applied
+on a line perpendicular to the plane of the nock; the two others were
+equidistant from this. For the space of an inch he lapped the sinew
+about the feathers and arrow-shaft, slowly rotating it all the while, at
+last smoothing the binding with his thumb nail.
+
+The rear ends having been lashed in position, the arrow was set aside
+to dry while the rest were prepared.
+
+Five or ten having reached this stage and the binding being dry and
+secure, he took one again between his left arm and chest, and with his
+right hand drew all the feathers straight and taut, down the shaft.
+Here he held them with the fingers of his left hand. Having marked a
+similar place on each arrow where the sinew was to go, he cut the
+bristles off the rib. At this point he started binding with another
+piece of wet sinew. After a few turns he drew the feathers taut again
+and cut them, leaving about a half inch of rib. This he bound down
+completely to the arrow-shaft and finished all by smoothing the wet
+lapping with his thumb nail.
+
+The space between the rib and the wood he sometimes smeared with more
+glue to cause the feather to adhere to the shaft, but this was not the
+usual custom with him. After all was dry and firm, Ishi took the arrow
+and beat it gently across his palm so that the feathers spread out
+nicely.
+
+As a rule the length of his feathers was four inches, though on
+ceremonial arrows they often were as long as eight inches.
+
+After drying, the feathers were cut with a sharp piece of obsidian,
+using a straight stick as a guide and laying the arrow on a flat piece
+of wood. When with us he trimmed them with scissors, making a straight
+cut from the full width of the feather in back, to the height of a
+quarter of an inch at the forward extremity. On his arrows he left the
+natural curve of the feather at the nock, and while the rear binding
+started an inch or more from the butt of the arrow, the feather drooped
+over the nock. This gave a pretty effect and seemed to add to the
+steering qualities of the missile.
+
+Two kinds of points were used on Ishi's arrows. One was the simple
+blunt end of the shaft bound with sinew used for killing small game and
+practice shots. The other was his hunting head, made of flint or
+obsidian. He preferred the latter.
+
+Obsidian was used as money among the natives of California. A boulder
+of this volcanic glass was packed from some mountainous districts and
+pieces were cracked off and exchanged for dried fish, venison, or
+weapons. It was a medium of barter. Although all men were more or less
+expert in flaking arrowheads and knives, the better grades of bows,
+arrows, and arrow points were made by the older, more expert
+specialists of the tribe.
+
+Ishi often referred to one old Indian, named _Chu no wa yahi_, who
+lived at the base of a great cliff with his crazy wife. This man owned
+an ax, and thus was famous for his possessions as well as his skill as
+a maker of bows. From a distant mountain crest one day Ishi pointed out
+to me the camp of this Indian who was long since dead. If ever Ishi
+wished to refer to a hero of the bow, or having been beaten in a shot,
+he always told us what _Chu no wa yahi_ could have done.
+
+To make arrowheads properly one should smear his face with mud and sit
+out in the hot sun in a quiet secluded spot. The mud is a precaution
+against harm from the flying chips of glass, possibly also a good luck
+ritual. If by chance a bit of glass should fly in the eye, Ishi's
+method of surgical relief was to hold his lower lid wide open with one
+finger while he slapped himself violently on the head with the other
+hand. I am inclined to ascribe the process of removal more to the
+hydraulic effect of the tears thus started than to the mechanical jar
+of the treatment.
+
+He began this work by taking one chunk of obsidian and throwing it
+against another; several small pieces were thus shattered off. One of
+these, approximately three inches long, two inches wide and half an
+inch thick, was selected as suitable for an arrowhead, or _haka_.
+Protecting the palm of his left hand by a piece of thick buckskin, Ishi
+placed a piece of obsidian flat upon it, holding it firmly with his
+fingers folded over it.
+
+In his right hand he held a short stick on the end of which was lashed
+a sharp piece of deer horn. Grasping the horn firmly while the longer
+extremity lay beneath his forearm, he pressed the point of the horn
+against the edge of the obsidian. Without jar or blow, a flake of glass
+flew off, as large as a fish scale. Repeating this process at various
+spots on the intended head, turning it from side to side, first
+reducing one face, then the other, he soon had a symmetrical point. In
+half an hour he could make the most graceful and perfectly proportioned
+arrowhead imaginable. The little notches fashioned to hold the sinew
+binding below the barbs he shaped with a smaller piece of bone, while
+the arrowhead was held on the ball of his thumb.
+
+Flint, plate glass, old bottle glass, onyx--all could be worked with
+equal facility. Beautiful heads were fashioned from blue bottles and
+beer bottles.
+
+The general size of these points was two inches for length,
+seven-eighths for width, and one-eighth for thickness. Larger heads
+were used for war and smaller ones for shooting bears.
+
+Such a head, of course, was easily broken if the archer missed his
+shot. This made him very careful about the whole affair of shooting.
+
+When ready for use, these heads were set on the end of the shaft with
+heated resin and bound in place with sinew which encircled the end of
+the arrow and crossed diagonally through the barb notches with many
+recurrences.
+
+Such a point has better cutting qualities in animal tissue than has
+steel. The latter is, of course, more durable. After entering
+civilization, Ishi preferred to use iron or steel blades of the same
+general shape, or having a short tang for insertion in the arrowhead.
+
+Ishi carried anywhere from five to sixty arrows in a quiver made of
+otter skin which hung suspended by a loop of buckskin over his left
+shoulder.
+
+His method of bracing or stringing the bow was as follows: Grasping it
+with his right hand at its center, with the belly toward him, and the
+lower end on his right thigh, he held the upper end with his left hand
+while the loop of the string rested between his finger and thumb. By
+pressing downward at the handle and pulling upward with the left hand
+he so sprung the bow that the loop of the cord could be slipped over
+the upper nock.
+
+[Illustration: ISHI AND APPERSON, THE GUIDE, ONCE OLD ENEMIES, NOW
+FRIENDS]
+
+[Illustration: CALLING GAME IN AMBUSH]
+
+[Illustration: THE INDIAN'S FAVORITE SHOOTING POSITION]
+
+[Illustration: CHOPPING OUT A JUNIPER BOW]
+
+In nocking his arrow, the bow was held diagonally across the body, its
+upper end pointing to the left. It was held lightly in the palm of the
+left hand so that it rested loosely in the notch of the thumb while the
+fingers partially surrounded the handle. Taking an arrow from his
+quiver, he laid it across the bow on its right side where it lay
+between the extended fingers of his left hand. He gently slid the arrow
+forward until the nock slipped over the string at its center. Here he
+set it properly in place and put his right thumb under the string,
+hooked upward ready to pull. At the same time he flexed his forefinger
+against the side of the arrow, and the second finger was placed on the
+thumb nail to strengthen the pull.
+
+Thus he accomplished what is known as the Mongolian release.
+
+Only a few nations ever used this type of arrow release, and the Yana
+seem to have been the only American natives to do so. [2]
+[Footnote 2: See Morse on _Arrow Release_.]
+
+To draw his bow he extended his left arm. At the same time he pulled
+his right hand toward him. The bow arm was almost in front of him,
+while his right hand drew to the top of his breast bone. With both eyes
+open he sighted along his shaft and estimated the elevation according
+to the distance to be shot.
+
+He released firmly and without change of position until the arrow hit.
+He preferred to shoot kneeling or squatting, for this was most
+favorable for getting game.
+
+His shooting distances were from ten yards up to fifty. Past this range
+he did not think one should shoot, but sought rather to approach his
+game more closely.
+
+In his native state he practiced shooting at little oak balls, or
+bundles of grass bound to represent rabbits, or little hoops of willow
+rolled along the ground. Like all other archers, if Ishi missed a shot
+he always had a good excuse. There was too much wind, or the arrow was
+crooked, or the bow had lost its cast, or, as a last resource, the
+coyote doctor bewitched him, which is the same thing we mean when we
+say it is just bad luck. While with us he shot at the regulation straw
+target, and he is the first and only Indian of whose shooting any
+accurate records have been made.
+
+Many exaggerated reports exist concerning the accuracy of the shooting
+of American Indians; but here we have one who shot ever since
+childhood, who lived by hunting, and must have been as good, if not
+better, than the average.
+
+He taught us to shoot Indian style at first, but later we learned the
+old English methods and found them superior to the Indian. At the end
+of three months' practice, Dr. J. V. Cooke and I could shoot as well as
+Ishi at targets, but he could surpass us at game shooting.
+
+Ishi never thought very much of our long bows. He always said, "Too
+much _man-nee_." And he always insisted that arrows should be painted
+red and green.
+
+But when we began beating him at targets, he took all his shafts home
+and scraped the paint off them, putting back rings of blue and yellow,
+doubtless to change his luck. In spite of our apparent superiority at
+some forms of shooting, he never changed his methods to meet
+competition. We, of course, did not want him to.
+
+Small objects the size of a quail the Indian could hit with regularity
+up to twenty yards. And I have seen him kill ground squirrels at forty
+yards; yet at the same distances he might miss a four-foot target. He
+explained this by saying that the target was too large and the bright
+colored rings diverted the attention. He was right.
+
+There is a regular system of shooting in archery competition. In
+America there is what is known as the American Round, which consists of
+shooting thirty arrows at each of the following distances: sixty,
+fifty, and forty yards. The bull's-eye on the target is a trifle over
+nine inches and is surrounded by four rings of half this diameter.
+Their value is 9, 7, 5, 3, 1, successively counting from the center
+outward. The target itself is constructed of straw, bound in the form
+of a mat four feet in diameter, covered with a canvas facing.
+
+Counting the hits and scores on the various distances, a good archer
+will make the following record. Here is Arthur Young's best score:
+
+March 25, 1917.
+
+At 60 yards        30 hits    190 score    11 golds
+   50 yards        30 hits    198 score     9 golds
+   40 yards        30 hits    238 score    17 golds
+
+   Total           90 hits    626 score    37 golds
+
+This is one of the best scores made by American archers.
+
+Ishi's best record is as follows:
+
+October 23, 1914.
+
+At 60 yards        10 hits     32 score
+   50 yards        20 hits     92 score     2 golds
+   40 yards        19 hits     99 score     2 golds
+
+   Total           49 hits    223 score     4 golds
+
+His next best score was this:
+
+At 60 yards        13 hits     51 score
+   50 yards        17 hits     59 score
+   40 yards        22 hits     95 score
+
+   Total           52 hits    205 score
+
+My own best practice American round is as follows:
+
+May 22, 1917.
+
+At 60 yards        29 hits    157 score
+   50 yards        29 hits    185 score
+   40 yards        30 hits    196 score
+
+   Total           88 hits    538 score
+
+Anything over 500 is considered good shooting.
+
+It will be seen from this that the Indian was not a good target shot,
+but in field shooting and getting game, probably he could excel the
+white man.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+
+ISHI'S METHODS OF HUNTING
+
+
+Hunting with Ishi was pure joy. Bow in hand, he seemed to be
+transformed into a being light as air and as silent as falling snow.
+From the very first we went on little expeditions into the country
+where, without appearing to instruct, he was my teacher in the old, old
+art of the chase. I followed him into a new system of getting game. We
+shot rabbits, quail, and squirrels with the bow. His methods here were
+not so well defined as in the approach to larger game, but I was struck
+from the first by his noiseless step, his slow movements, his use of
+cover. These little animals are flushed by sound and sight, not scent.
+Another prominent feature of Ishi's work in the field was his
+indefatigable persistence. He never gave up when he knew a rabbit was
+in a clump of brush. Time meant nothing to him; he simply stayed until
+he got his game. He would watch a squirrel hole for an hour if
+necessary, but he always got the squirrel.
+
+He made great use of the game call. We all know of duck and turkey
+calls, but when he told me that he lured rabbits, tree squirrels,
+wildcats, coyote, and bear to him, I thought he was romancing. Going
+along the trail, he would stop and say, "_Ineja teway--bjum--metchi bi
+wi_," or "This is good rabbit ground." Then crouching behind a suitable
+bush as a blind, he would place the fingers of his right hand against
+his lips and, going through the act of kissing, he produced a plaintive
+squeak similar to that given by a rabbit caught by a hawk or in mortal
+distress. This he repeated with heartrending appeals until suddenly one
+or two or sometimes three rabbits appeared in the opening. They came
+from distances of a hundred yards or more, hopped forward, stopped and
+listened, hopped again, listened, and ultimately came within ten or
+fifteen yards while Ishi dragged out his squeak in a most pathetic
+manner. Then he would shoot.
+
+To test his ability one afternoon while hunting deer, I asked the Yana
+to try his call in twelve separate locations. From these twelve calls
+we had five jackrabbits and one wildcat approach us. The cat came out
+of the forest, cautiously stepped nearer and sat upon a log in a bright
+open space not more than fifty yards away while I shot three arrows at
+him, one after the other; the last clipped him between the ears.
+
+This call being a cry of distress, rabbits and squirrels come with the
+idea of protecting their young. They run around in a circle, stamp
+their feet, and make great demonstrations of anger, probably as much to
+attract the attention of the supposed predatory beast and decoy him
+away, as anything else.
+
+The cat, the coyote, and the bear come for no such humane motive; they
+are thinking of food, of joining the feast.
+
+I learned the call myself, not perfectly, but well enough to bring
+squirrels down from the topmost branches of tall pines, to have foxes
+and lynx approach me, and to get rabbits.
+
+Not only could Ishi call the animals, but he understood their language.
+Often when we have been hunting he has stopped and said, "The squirrel
+is scolding a fox." At first I said to him, "I don't believe you." Then
+he would say, "Wait! Look!" Hiding behind a tree or rock or bush, in a
+few minutes we would see a fox trot across the open forest.
+
+It seemed that for a hawk or cat or man, the squirrel has a different
+call, such that Ishi could say without seeing, what molested his little
+brother.
+
+Often have we stopped and rested because, so he said, a bluejay called
+far and wide, "Here comes a man!" There was no use going farther, the
+animals all knew of our presence. Only a white hunter would advance
+under these circumstances.
+
+Ishi could smell deer, cougar, and foxes like an animal, and often
+discovered them first this way. He could imitate the call of quail to
+such an extent that he spoke a half-dozen sentences to them. He knew
+the crow of the cock on sentinel duty when he signals to others; he
+knew the cry of warning, and the run-to-shelter cry of the hen; her
+command to her little ones to fly; and the "lie low" cluck; then at
+last the "all's well" chirp.
+
+Deer he could call in the fawn season by placing a folded leaf between
+his lips and sucking vigorously. This made a bleat such as a lamb
+gives, or a boy makes blowing on a blade of grass between his thumbs.
+
+He also enticed deer by means of a stuffed buck's head which he wore as
+a cap, and bobbing up and down behind bushes excited their curiosity
+until they approached within bow-shot. Ordinarily in hunting deer, the
+Indian used what is termed the still hunt, but with him it was more
+than that. First of all he studied the country for its formation of
+hills, ridges, valleys, canyons, brush and timber. He observed the
+direction of the prevailing winds, the position of the sun at daybreak
+and evening. He noted the water holes, game trails, "buck look-outs,"
+deer beds, the nature of the feeding grounds, the stage of the moon,
+the presence of salt licks, and many other features of importance. If
+possible, he located the hiding-place of the old bucks in daytime, all
+of which every careful hunter does. Next, he observed the habits of
+game, and the presence or absence of predatory beasts that kill deer.
+
+Having decided these and other questions, he prepared for the hunt. He
+would eat no fish the day before the hunt, and smoke no tobacco, for
+these odors are detected a great way off. He rose early, bathed in the
+creek, rubbed himself with the aromatic leaves of yerba buena, washed
+out his mouth, drank water, but ate no food. Dressed in a loin cloth,
+but without shirt, leggings or moccasins, he set out, bow and quiver at
+his side. He said that clothing made too much noise in the brush, and
+naturally one is more cautious in his movements when reminded by his
+sensitive hide that he is touching a sharp twig.
+
+From the very edge of camp, until he returned, he was on the alert for
+game, and the one obvious element of his mental attitude was that he
+suspected game everywhere. He saw a hundred objects that looked like
+deer, to every live animal in reality. He took it for granted that ten
+deer see you where you see one--so see it first! On the trail, it was a
+crime to speak. His warning note was a soft, low whistle or a hiss. As
+he walked, he placed every footfall with precise care; the most
+stealthy step I ever saw; he was used to it; lived by it. For every
+step he looked twice. When going over a rise of ground he either
+stooped, crawled or let just his eyes go over the top, then stopped and
+gazed a long time for the slightest moving twig or spot of color. Of
+course, he always hunted up wind, unless he were cutting across country
+or intended to flush game.
+
+At sunrise and sunset he tried always to get between the sun and his
+game. He drifted between the trees like a shadow, expectant and nerved
+for immediate action.
+
+Some Indians, covering their heads with tall grass, can creep up on
+deer in the open, and rising suddenly to a kneeling posture shoot at a
+distance of ten or fifteen yards. But Ishi never tried this before me.
+Having located his quarry, he either shot, at suitable ranges, or made
+a detour to wait the passing of the game or to approach it from a more
+favorable direction. He never used dogs in hunting.
+
+When a number of people hunted together, Ishi would hide behind a blind
+at the side of a deer trail and let the others run the deer past. In
+his country we saw old piles of rock covered with lichen and moss that
+were less than twenty yards from well-marked deer trails. For
+numberless years Indians had used these as blinds to secure camp meat.
+
+In the same necessity, the Indian would lie in wait near licks or
+springs to get his food; but he never killed wantonly.
+
+Although Ishi took me on many deer hunts and we had several shots at
+deer, owing to the distance or the fall of the ground or obstructing
+trees, we registered nothing better than encouraging misses. He was
+undoubtedly hampered by the presence of a novice, and unduly hastened
+by the white man's lack of time. His early death prevented our ultimate
+achievement in this matter, so it was only after he had gone to the
+Happy Hunting Grounds that I, profiting by his teachings, killed my
+first deer with the bow.
+
+That he had shot many deer, even since boyhood, there was no doubt. To
+prove that he could shoot through one with his arrows, I had him
+discharge several at a buck killed by our packer. Shooting at forty
+yards, one arrow went through the chest wall, half its length; another
+struck the spine and fractured it, both being mortal wounds.
+
+It was the custom of his tribe to hunt until noon, when by that time
+they usually had several deer, obtained, as a rule, by the ambush
+method. Having pre-arranged the matter, the women appeared on the
+scene, cut up the meat, cooked part of it, principally the liver and
+heart, and they had a feast on the spot. The rest was taken to camp and
+made into jerky.
+
+In skinning animals, the Indian used an obsidian knife held in his hand
+by a piece of buckskin. I found this cut better than the average
+hunting knife sold to sportsmen. Often in skinning rabbits he would
+make a small hole in the skin over the abdomen and blow into this,
+stripping the integument free from the body and inflating it like a
+football, except at the legs.
+
+In skinning the tail of an animal, he used a split stick to strip it
+down, and did it so dextrously that it was a revelation of how easy
+this otherwise difficult process may be when one knows how. He tanned
+his skins in the way customary with most savages: clean skinning, brain
+emulsion, and plenty of elbow grease.
+
+[Illustration: OUR CARAVAN LEAVING DEER CREEK CANYON]
+
+[Illustration: ISHI FLAKING AN OBSIDIAN ARROW HEAD]
+
+[Illustration: THE INDIAN AND A DEER]
+
+His people killed bear with the bow and arrow. Ishi made a distinction
+between grizzly bear, which he called _tet na_, and black bear, which
+he called _bo he_. The former had long claws, could not climb trees,
+and feared nothing. He was to be let alone. The other was "all same
+pig." The black bear, when found, was surrounded by a dozen or more
+Indians who built fires, and discharging their arrows at his open
+mouth, attempted to kill him. If he charged, a burning brand was
+snatched from the fire and thrust in his face while the others shot him
+from the side. Thus they wore him down and at last vanquished him.
+
+In his youth, Ishi killed a cinnamon bear single handed. Finding it
+asleep on a ledge of rock, he sneaked close to it and gave a loud
+whistle. The bear rose up on its hind legs and Ishi shot him through
+the chest. With a roar the bear fell off the ledge and the Indian
+jumped after him. With a short-handled obsidian spear he thrust him
+through the heart. The skin of this bear now hangs in the Museum of
+Anthropology in mute testimony of the courage and daring of Ishi. Had
+this young man been given a name, perhaps they would have called him
+Yellow Bear.
+
+While he shot many birds, I never saw Ishi try wing shooting except at
+eagles or hawks. For these he would use an arrow on which he had
+smeared mud to make it dark in color. A light shaft is readily
+discerned by these birds, and I have often seen them dodge an arrow.
+But the darker one is almost invisible head on. The feathers of the
+arrows were close cropped to make them swift and noiseless.
+
+The sound of a bowstring is that of a sharp twang accompanied by a
+muffled crack. To avoid this and make a silent shot, the Indian bound
+his bow at the nocks with weasel fur; this effectually damped the
+vibration of the string, while the passage of the arrow across the bow,
+which gives the slight crack, is abolished by a heavy padding of
+buckskin at this point.
+
+Ishi never wore an arm guard or glove or finger stalls to protect
+himself as other archers do. He seemed not to need them. When he
+released the arrow, the bow rotated in his hand so that the string
+faced in the opposite direction from which it started. His thumb alone
+drew the string, and this was so toughened that it needed no leather
+covering.
+
+In a little bag he carried extra arrowheads and sinews, so that in a
+pinch he could mend his arrows.
+
+When not actually in use, he promptly unstrung his bow, and gently
+straightened it by hand. In cold weather he heated it over a fire
+before bracing it. The slightest moisture would deter him from
+shooting, unless absolutely necessary--he was so jealous of his tackle.
+If his bowstring stretched in the heat or dampness, as sinew is liable
+to do, he shortened it by twisting one end prior to bracing it.
+
+Before shooting he invariably looked over each arrow, straightened it
+in his hands or by his teeth, re-arranged its feathers, and saw that
+the point was properly adjusted. In fact, he gave infinite attention to
+detail. With him, every shot must count. Besides arrows in his quiver,
+he carried several ready for use under his right arm, which he kept
+close to his side while drawing the bow.
+
+In all things pertaining to the handicraft of archery and the technique
+of shooting, he was most exacting. Neatness about his tackle, care of
+his equipment, deliberation and form in his shooting were typical of
+him; in fact, he loved his bow as he did no other of his possessions.
+It was his constant companion in life and he took it with him on his
+last long journey.
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+
+ARCHERY IN GENERAL
+
+
+Our experience with Ishi waked the love of archery in us, that impulse
+which lies dormant in the heart of every Anglo-Saxon. For it is a
+strange thing that all the men who have centered about this renaissance
+in shooting the bow, in our immediate locality, are of English
+ancestry. Their names betray them. Many have come and watched and shot
+a little, and gone away; but these have stayed to hunt.
+
+From shooting the bow Indian fashion, I turned to the study of its
+history, and soon found that the English were its greatest masters. In
+them archery reached its high tide; after them its glory passed.
+
+But the earliest evidence of the use of the bow is found in the
+existence of arrowheads assigned to the third interglacial period,
+nearly 50,000 years ago.
+
+That man had material culture prior to this epoch, there is no doubt,
+and the use of the bow with arrows of less complicated structure must
+have preceded this period.
+
+All races and nations at one time or another have used the bow. Even
+the Australian aborigine, who is supposed to have been too low in
+mental development to have understood the principles of archery, used a
+miniature bow and poisoned arrow in shooting game. In the magnificent
+collection of Joseph Jessop of San Diego, California, I saw one of
+these little bows scarcely more than a foot long. The arrows, he
+stated, the natives carried in the hair of their heads.
+
+Those who are interested in the archaeology of the bow should read the
+volume on archery of the Badminton Library by Longmans.
+
+Various peoples have excelled in shooting, notably the Japanese, the
+Turks, the Scythians, and the English. Others have not been suited by
+temperament to use the bow. The Latins, the Peruvians, and the Irish
+seem never to have been toxophilites. The famous long bow of Merrie Old
+England was brought there by the Normans, who inherited it from the
+Norsemen settled along the Rhine. Here grew the best yew trees in days
+gone by, and this, doubtless, was a strong determining factor in the
+superior development of their archery.
+
+Before the battle of Hastings, the Saxons used the short, weak weapon
+common to all primitive people. The conquered Saxon, deprived of all
+arms such as the boar-spear, the sword, the ax, and the dagger,
+naturally turned to the bow because he could make this himself, and he
+copied the Norman long bow.
+
+Although the first game preserves in England were established by
+William the Conqueror at this time, the Saxon was permitted to shoot
+birds and small beasts in his fields and therefore was allowed to use a
+blunt arrow, headed with a lead tip or pilum, hence our term pile, or
+target point. If found with a sharp arrowhead, the so-called broad-head
+used for killing the king's deer, he was promptly hanged. The evidence
+against such a poacher was summed up thus in the old legend:
+
+  Dog draw, stable stand
+  Back berond, bloody hand.
+
+One found following a questing hound, posed in the stand of an archer,
+carrying game on his back, or with the evidence of recent butchery on
+his hands, was hanged to the nearest tree by his own bowstring.
+
+It was under these circumstances that outlawry took the form of deer
+killing and robust archery became the national sport. In these days the
+legendary hero, the demi-myth, Robin Hood, was born. What boy has not
+thrilled at the tales of Greenwood men, the well-sped shaft, the
+arrow's low whispering flight, and the willow wand split at a hundred
+paces?
+
+Every boy goes through a period of barbarism, just as the nations have
+passed, and during that age he is stirred by the call of the bow. I,
+too, shot the toy bows of boyhood; shot with Indian youths in the Army
+posts of Texas and Arizona. We played the impromptu pageants of Robin
+Hood, manufactured our own tackle, and carried it about with unfailing
+fidelity; hunted small birds and rabbits, and were the usual savages of
+that age.
+
+But when it comes to the legends of the bow, the records of these past
+glories are so vague that we must accept them as a tale oft told; it
+grows with the telling.
+
+It seems that distances were measured in feet, paces, yards, or rods
+with blithe indifference, and the narrator added to them at will. Robin
+is supposed to have shot a mile, and his bow was so long and so strong
+no man could draw it. In sooth, he was a mighty hero, and yet the
+ballads refer to him as a "slight fellow," even "a bag of bones." As a
+youth he slew the king's deer at three hundred yards, a right goodly
+shot! And no doubt it was.
+
+Of all the bows of the days when archery was in flower, only two
+remain. These are unfinished staves found in the ship _Mary Rose_, sunk
+off the coast of Albion in 1545. This vessel having been raised from
+the bottom of the ocean in 1841, the staves were recovered and are now
+in the Tower of London. They are six feet, four and three-quarters
+inches long, one and one-half inches across the handle, one and
+one-quarter inches thick, and proportionately large throughout. The
+dimensions are recorded in Badminton. Of course, they never have been
+tested for strength, but it has been estimated at 100 pounds.
+
+Determined to duplicate these old bows, I selected a very fine grained
+stave of seasoned yew and made an exact duplicate, according to the
+recorded measurements.
+
+This bow, when drawn the standard arrow length of twenty-eight inches,
+weighed sixty-five pounds and shot a light flight arrow two hundred and
+twenty-five yards. When drawn thirty-six inches, it weighed seventy-six
+pounds and shot a flight arrow two hundred and fifty-six yards. From
+this it would seem that even though these ancient staves appear to be
+almost too powerful for a modern man to draw, they not only are well
+within our command, but do not shoot a mile.
+
+The greatest distance shot by a modern archer was made by Ingo Simon,
+using a Turkish composite bow, in France in 1913. The measured distance
+was four hundred and fifty-nine yards and eight inches. That is very
+near the limit of this type of bow and far beyond the possibilities of
+the yew long bow. But the long bow is capable of shooting heavier
+shafts and shooting them harder.
+
+Since archery is fast disappearing from the land, and the material for
+study will soon become extinct, I have undertaken to record the
+strength and shooting qualities of a representative number of the
+available bows in preservation, together with the power of penetration
+of arrows.
+
+To do this, through the mediation of the Department of Anthropology of
+the University of California, I have had access to the best collection
+of bows in America. Thousands of weapons were at my disposal in various
+museums, and from these I selected the best preserved and strongest to
+shoot.
+
+The formal report of these experiments is in the publications of the
+University, and here 'tis only necessary to mention a few of the
+findings.
+
+In testing the function of these bows and their ability to shoot, a
+bamboo flight arrow made by Ishi was used as the standard. It was
+thirty inches long, weighed three hundred and ten grains, and had very
+low cropped feathers. It carried universally better than all other
+arrows tested, and flew twenty per cent farther than the best English
+flight arrows.
+
+To make sure that no element of personal weakness entered into the
+test, I had these bows shot by Mr. Compton, a very powerful man and one
+used to the bow for thirty years. I myself could draw them all, and
+checked up the results.
+
+It is axiomatic that the weight and the cast of a bow are criteria of
+its value as a weapon in war or in the chase. Weight, as used by an
+archer, means the pull of a bow when full drawn, recorded in pounds.
+
+The following is a partial list of those weighed and shot. They are, of
+course, all genuine bows and represent the strongest. Each was shot at
+least six times over a carefully measured course and the greatest
+flight recorded. All flights were made at an elevation of forty-five
+degrees and the greatest possible draw was given each shot. In fact we
+spared no bows because of their age, and consequently broke two in the
+testing.
+
+                                 Weight     Distance Shot
+    Alaskan....................... 80 pounds    180 yards
+    Apache........................ 28  "        120  "
+    Blackfoot..................... 45  "        145  "
+    Cheyenne...................... 65  "        156  "
+    Cree.......................... 38  "        150  "
+    Esquimaux..................... 80  "        200  "
+    Hupa.......................... 40  "        148  "
+    Luiseno....................... 48  "        125  "
+    Navajo........................ 45  "        150  "
+    Mojave........................ 40  "        110  "
+    Osage......................... 40  "         92  "
+    Sioux......................... 45  "        165  "
+    Tomawata...................... 40  "        148  "
+    Yurok......................... 30  "        140  "
+    Yukon......................... 60  "        125  "
+    Yaki.......................... 70  "        210  "
+    Yana.......................... 48  "        205  "
+
+The list of foreign bows is as follows:
+
+                                   Weight     Distance Shot
+    Paraguay...................... 60 pounds    170 yards
+    Polynesian.................... 49  "        172  "
+    Nigrito....................... 56  "        176  "
+    Andaman Islands................45  "        142  "
+    Japanese.......................48  "        175  "
+    Africa.........................54  "        107  "
+    Tartar.........................98  "        175  "
+    South American.................50  "         98  "
+    Igorrote.......................26  "        100  "
+    Solomon Islands................56  "        148  "
+    English target bow (imported)..48  "        220  "
+    English yew flight bow.........65  "        300  "
+    Old English hunting bow........75  "        250  "
+
+
+It will be seen from these tests that no existing aboriginal bow is
+very powerful when compared with those in use in the days of robust
+archery in old England.
+
+The greatest disappointment was in the Tartar bow which was brought
+expressly from Shansi, China, by my brother, Col. B. H. Pope. With this
+powerful weapon I expected to shoot a quarter of a mile; but with all
+its dreadful strength, its cast was slow and cumbersome. The arrow that
+came with it, a miniature javelin thirty-eight inches long, could only
+be projected one hundred and ten yards. In making these shots both
+hands and feet were used to draw the bow. A special flight arrow
+thirty-six inches long was used in the test, but with hardly any
+increase of distance gained.
+
+After much experimenting and research into the literature, [1]
+[Footnote 1: Balfour, _Composite Bows_.]
+I constructed two horn composite bows, such as were used by the Turks
+and Egyptians. They were perfect in action, the larger one weighing
+eighty-five pounds. With this I hoped to establish a record, but after
+many attempts my best flight was two hundred and ninety-one yards. This
+weapon, being only four feet long, would make an excellent buffalo bow
+to be used on horseback.
+
+In shooting for distance, of course, a very light missile is used, and
+nothing but empirical tests can determine the shape, size, and weight
+that suits each bow. Consequently, we use hundreds of arrows to find
+the best. For more than seven years these experiments have continued,
+and at this stage of our progress the best flight arrow is made of
+Japanese bamboo five-sixteenths of an inch in diameter, having a
+foreshaft of birch the same diameter and four inches long. The nock is
+a boxwood plug inserted in the rear end, both joints being bound with
+silk floss and shellacked. The point is the copper nickel jacket of the
+present U. S. Army rifle bullet, of conical shape. The feathers are
+parabolic, three-quarters of an inch long by one-quarter high, three in
+number, set one inch from the end, and come from the wing of an owl.
+The whole arrow is thirty inches long, weighs three hundred and twenty
+grains, and is very rigid.
+
+With this I have shot three hundred and one yards with a moderate wind
+at my back, using a Paraguay ironwood bow five feet two inches long,
+backed with hickory and weighing sixty pounds. This is my best flight
+shot.
+
+It is not advisable here to go further into this subject; let it stand
+that the English yew long bow is the highest type of artillery in the
+world.
+
+Although the composite Turkish bows can shoot the farthest, it is only
+with very light arrows; they are incapable of projecting heavier shafts
+to the extent of the yew long bow, that is, they can transmit velocity
+but not momentum; they have resiliency, but not power.
+
+Besides these experiments with bows, many tests were made of the flight
+and penetration of arrows. A few of the pertinent observations are here
+noted.
+
+A light arrow from a heavy bow, say a sixty-five pound yew bow, travels
+at an initial velocity of one hundred and fifty feet per second, as
+determined by a stopwatch.
+
+Shooting at one hundred yards, such an arrow is discharged at an angle
+of eight degrees, and describes a parabola twelve to fifteen feet high
+at its crest. Its time in transit is of approximately two and one-fifth
+seconds.
+
+Shooting straight up, such an arrow goes about three hundred and fifty
+feet high, and requires eight seconds for the round trip. This test was
+made by shooting arrows over very tall sequoia trees, of known height.
+
+The striking force of a one-ounce arrow shot from a seventy-five pound
+bow at ten yards, is twenty-five foot pounds. This test is made by
+shooting at a cake of paraffin and comparing the penetration with that
+made by falling weights. Such a striking force is, of course,
+insignificant when compared with that of a modern bullet, viz., three
+thousand foot pounds. Yet the damage done by an arrow armed with a
+sharp steel broad-head is often greater than that done by a bullet, as
+we shall see later on.
+
+A standard English target arrow rotates during flight six complete
+revolutions every twenty yards, or approximately fifteen times a
+second. Heavy hunting shafts turn more slowly. This was ascertained by
+shooting two arrows at once from the same bow, their shafts being
+connected by a silk thread, so that one paid off as the other wound up
+the thread. The number of complete loops, of course, indicated the
+number of revolutions. A sand-bank makes a good butt to catch them. In
+rotating, much depends on the size and shape of the feather.
+
+Shooting a blunt arrow from a seventy-five pound bow at a white pine
+board an inch thick, the shaft will often go completely through it. A
+broad hunting head will penetrate two or three inches, then bind. But
+the broad-head will go through animal tissue better, even cutting bones
+in two; in fact, such an arrow will go completely through any animal
+but a pachyderm.
+
+To test a steel bodkin pointed arrow such as was used at the battle of
+Cressy, I borrowed a shirt of chain armor from the Museum, a beautiful
+specimen made in Damascus in the 15th Century. It weighed twenty-five
+pounds and was in perfect condition. One of the attendants in the
+Museum offered to put it on and allow me to shoot at him. Fortunately,
+I declined his proffered services and put it on a wooden box, padded
+with burlap to represent clothing.
+
+Indoors at a distance of seven yards, I discharged an arrow at it with
+such force that sparks flew from the links of steel as from a forge.
+The bodkin point and shaft went through the thickest portion of the
+back, penetrated an inch of wood and bulged out the opposite side of
+the armor shirt. The attendant turned a pale green. An arrow of this
+type can be shot about two hundred yards, and would be deadly up to the
+full limit of its flight.
+
+The question of the cutting qualities of the obsidian head as compared
+to those of the sharpened steel head, was answered in the following
+experiment:
+
+A box was so constructed that two opposite sides were formed by fresh
+deer skin tacked in place. The interior of the box was filled with
+bovine liver. This represented animal tissue minus the bones.
+
+At a distance of ten yards I discharged an obsidian-pointed arrow and a
+steel-pointed arrow from a weak bow. The two missiles were alike in
+size, weight, and feathering, in fact, were made by Ishi, only one had
+the native head and the other his modern substitute. Upon repeated
+trials, the steel-headed arrow uniformly penetrated a distance of
+twenty-two inches from the front surface of the box, while the obsidian
+uniformly penetrated thirty inches, or eight inches farther,
+approximately 25 per cent better penetration. This advantage is
+undoubtedly due to the concoidal edge of the flaked glass operating
+upon the same principle that fluted-edged bread and bandage knives cut
+better than ordinary knives.
+
+In the same way we discovered that steel broad-heads sharpened by
+filing have a better meat-cutting edge than when ground on a stone.
+
+In our experience with game shooting, we never could see the advantage
+of longitudinal grooves running down the shaft of the arrow, such as
+some aborigines use, supposed to promote bleeding. In the first place
+these marks are inadequate in depth, and secondly it is not the
+exterior bleeding that kills the wounded animal so much as the internal
+hemorrhage.
+
+A sufficiently wide head on the arrow cuts a hole large enough to
+permit the escape of excess blood, and, as a matter of fact, nearly all
+of our shots are perforating, going completely through the body.
+
+Conical, blunt, and bodkin points lack the power of penetration in
+animal tissue inherent in broad-heads; correspondingly they do less
+damage.
+
+[Illustration (up-left): THREE TYPES OF HUNTING ARROWS]
+
+[Illustration (up-right): A BLUNT ARROW SHOT THROUGH AN INCH BOARD]
+
+[Illustration (down-left): "BRER" FOX UP A TREE]
+
+[Illustration (down-right): ART YOUNG SHOOTS FISH]
+
+Catlin, in his book on the North American Indian, relates that the
+Mandans, among other tribes, practiced shooting a number of arrows in
+succession with such dexterity that their best archer could keep eight
+arrows up in the air at one time.
+
+Will Thompson, the dean of American archery, writing in _Forest and
+Stream_ of March, 1915, says very definitely that the feat of the
+legendary hero, Hiawatha, who is supposed to have shot so strong and
+far that he could shoot the tenth arrow before the first descended, is
+manifestly absurd. Thompson contends that no man ever has, or ever will
+keep more than three arrows up in the air at once.
+
+Having read this and determined to try the experiment of dextrous
+shooting, I constructed a dozen light arrows having wide nocks and
+flattened rear ends so they might be fingered quickly. Then I devised a
+way of grasping a supply of ready shafts in the bow hand, and invented
+an arrow release in which all the fingers and thumb held the arrow on
+the string, yet remained entirely on the right side of it.
+
+After quite a bit of practice in accurate, later in rapid, nocking, I
+succeeded in shooting seven successive arrows in the air before the
+first touched the ground. I used a perpendicular flight. Upon several
+occasions I almost accomplished eight at once. I feel that with
+considerable practice eight, and even more, are possible, proving again
+that there is an element of truth in all legends.
+
+It has long been a bone of contention among archers which element of
+the yew, the sap wood or the heart, gives the greater cast. To obtain
+experimental evidence, I constructed two miniature bows, each
+twenty-two inches long, one of pure white sap wood, the other of the
+heart from the same stave. I made them the same size, and weighing
+about eight pounds when drawn eight inches.
+
+Shooting a little arrow on these bows, the sap wood shot forty-three
+yards; the red wood sixty-six yards, showing the greater cast to be in
+the red yew.
+
+Corroborating this, Mr. Compton relates that while working in Barnes's
+shop in Forest Grove, Oregon, during the last illness of that noted
+bowyer, he came across a laminated bow made entirely of sap wood.
+Barnes stated that he had constructed it at the instigation of Will
+Thompson. The cast of this bow was slow, flabby, and weak. As a
+shooting implement it was a failure.
+
+Taking two pieces of wood, one white and one red, each twelve inches
+long, I placed them in a bench vise and fastened a spring scale to the
+top of each. Drawing the sap wood four inches from the perpendicular,
+it pulled eight pounds. Drawing the heart wood the same distance it
+pulled fourteen pounds, showing the greater strength of the latter.
+When drawn five inches from a straight line, the red piece broke. The
+sap wood could be bent at a right angle without fracture.
+
+It is obvious from this that the sap wood excels in tensile strength
+the red wood in compression strength and resiliency. In fact, they are
+reciprocal in action. The red yew on the belly of the bow gives the
+energy, the sap wood preserves it from fracture. It is, in fact,
+equivalent to sinew backing, and though less durable, probably adds
+more to the cast of the bows.
+
+In our experiments with a catgut and rawhide backing, we have not found
+that they add materially to the cast of a bow, only insure it against
+fracture. On the other hand, sap wood and hickory backing materially
+add to the power of the implement.
+
+The little red yew bow used in the previous experiment was backed
+heavily with rawhide and catgut. It then weighed ten pounds, but only
+shot sixty-three yards, showing a decrease in cast. But the backing
+permitted its being drawn to ten inches, when it shot a distance of
+eighty-five yards. A draw of twelve inches fractured it across the
+handle.
+
+In a similar experiment it was shown that two pieces of wood of the
+same size, but one being of a coarse-grained yew running sixteen lines
+to the inch, the other a fine-grained piece running thirty-five lines
+to the inch, the finer grain had the greater strength and resiliency up
+to the breaking point, but the yellow coarse-grained piece was more
+flexible and less readily broken.
+
+The question often arises, "How would an arrow fly if the bow is held
+in a mechanical rest and the string released by a mechanical release?"
+Such an apparatus would permit of several experiments. It would answer
+some of the queries that naturally pass through the mind of every
+archer.
+
+_Question 1._ How accurate is the bow and arrow as a weapon of
+precision, or as they say in ballistics, "What is the error of
+dispersion?"
+
+_Question 2._ What is the angle of declination to the left of the point
+of aim in the flight of such an arrow?
+
+_Question 3._ What is the effect of placing the cock feather next the
+bow?
+
+_Question 4._ What is the effect of shooting different arrows? How do
+they group? Would not such a machine give accurate data regarding the
+flight of new arrows and help in the selection of shafts for target
+shooting?
+
+_Question 5._ What effect does the time of holding a bow full drawn
+have on the flight of an arrow?
+
+_Question 6._ What is the result of changing the weight of bows when
+the arrows remain the same?
+
+Therefore, we devised a rest, consisting of a post set firmly in the
+ground, with a rigid cross arm and a vise-like hand grip. This latter
+was padded thickly with rubber, so that some resiliency was permitted.
+The bow was fastened in this mechanical hand by sturdy set screws.
+
+At the other end of the cross arm a hinged block was attached, from
+which projected two short wooden fingers, serving the exact function of
+the drawing hand. These were spaced so that the arrow nock fitted
+between them, and when the string was pulled into position and caught
+upon these fingers, the bow was drawn 28 inches.
+
+We adopted a system of loading, drawing and releasing on count, so that
+every shot was delivered with equal time factors.
+
+_Answer 1._ Using the same arrow each time, with the target set at 60
+yards, we found, of course, that the arrow always flies to the left
+when drawn on the left side of the bow, and that the angle of
+divergence for a 50 pound bow and a 5 shilling English target arrow was
+between six and seven degrees. Using a stronger bow this angle was
+increased,--also that with a weaker arrow the angle was greater,--but
+six degrees might be designated as the normal declination.
+
+_Answer 2._ Every rifle expert knows what his gun is capable of, in
+accuracy, and an archer should know just what to expect of an arrow
+under the most favorable conditions. We therefore tried shooting the
+same arrow over the same course with the same release, under these
+fairly stable conditions: The day was calm. We shot an arrow ten times
+in succession and all the shots centered in a six inch bull's-eye; that
+is, none went out of a circle of this diameter. In other words, at
+sixty yards a bow can shoot arrows with an error of dispersion of no
+more than six inches. This is surprisingly accurate for a weapon of
+this sort, when it is considered that the best rifles of today will
+average between one and a half to three inches dispersion at 100 yards.
+
+_Answer 3._ Placing the cock feather next the bow diverts the arrow to
+the left and causes it to drop lower on the target. The group formed by
+six flights was fairly close and consistent.
+
+_Answer 4._ Out of nine arrows tested, five consistently made a good
+close group and four as consistently went out. The "outs," however,
+were uniform in the direction and distance they took. It would be
+possible by this machine to select arrows that would make co-incidental
+patterns. It is obvious, however, that differences in individual arrows
+are greatly exaggerated by the apparatus, because it was quite apparent
+by this test that any good archer could group these hits much closer
+than the machine delivered them.
+
+_Answer 5._ In our shooting, we universally allotted five seconds for
+drawing, setting and discharging. However, when this time was increased
+to fifteen seconds, we found that our groups averaged seven and
+one-half inches lower. This shows the decided loss of cast incidental
+to long holding of the bow.
+
+_Answer 6._ Placing a 65 pound bow in the frame immediately showed
+increased reactions throughout. The lateral divergence in arrow flight
+was increased to fifteen degrees and all individual reactions were
+correspondingly increased. The flight of the individual arrow was less
+consistent, showing plainly the necessity of a proper relation in
+weight between the arrow and bow,--a very essential factor in accurate
+shooting.
+
+In conclusion, it seems to me that the machine naturally exaggerated
+the errors, for this reason. If the pressure of the arrow against the
+bow, in passing, amounts to two ounces, the arrow will fly a two ounce
+equivalent to the left, when the bow is held rigidly. An arrow that
+exerts four ounces pressure will fly correspondingly a greater distance
+to the left. But when the bow is held in the hand, there is
+considerable give to the muscles and the two ounce pressure is
+compensated for; thus, the arrow tends to fly straight. The four ounce
+arrow would with the same adjustment hold a correspondingly straighter
+course.
+
+The vertical error, however, depends more on the weight of the arrow,
+on the feathering, the holding time, the maintainance of tension, and
+on the release of the bowstring.
+
+There are many problems in the ballistics of archery that are unsolved,
+waiting the experiments of modern science. Empirical methods have
+dictated the art so far. In target equipment and shooting there is a
+wide field for investigation. Our interests, however, are more those of
+the hunter, and less those of the physicist.
+
+
+
+
+V
+
+
+HOW TO MAKE A BOW
+
+
+Every field archer should make his own tackle. If he cannot make and
+repair it, he will never shoot very long, because it is in constant
+need of repair.
+
+Target bows and arrows may be bought in sporting stores, here or in
+England, but hunting equipment must be made. Moreover, when a man
+manufactures his bow and arrows, he appreciates them more. But it will
+take many attempts before even the most mechanically gifted can expect
+to produce good artillery. After having made more than a hundred yew
+bows, I still feel that I am a novice. The beginner may expect his
+first two or three will be failures, but after that he can at least
+shoot them.
+
+Since there are so many different kinds of bows and all so inferior to
+the English long-bow, we shall describe this alone.
+
+Yew wood is the greatest bow timber in the world. That was proved
+thousands of years ago by experience. It is indeed a magic wood!
+
+But yew wood is hard to get and hard to make into a bow once having got
+it. Nevertheless, I am going to tell you where you can get it and how
+to work it, and how to make hunting bows just as we use them today, and
+presumably just as our forefathers used them before us. Later on I
+shall tell you what substitutes may be used for yew.
+
+The best yew wood in America grows in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon,
+in the Sierra Nevada and Coast Ranges of northern California. By
+addressing the Department of Forestry, doubtless one can get in
+communication with some one who will cut him a stave. Living in
+California, I cut my own.
+
+A description of yew trees and their location may be had from
+Sudworth's "_Forest Trees of the Pacific Slope_," to be obtained from
+the Government Printing Office at Washington.
+
+My own staves I cut near Branscomb, Mendocino County, and at Grizzly
+Creek on the Van Duzen River, Humboldt County, California. Splendid
+staves have been shipped to me from this latter county, coming from the
+neighborhood of Korbel.
+
+Yew is an evergreen tree with a leaf looking a great deal like that of
+redwood, hemlock, or fir at a distance. It is found growing in the
+mountains, down narrow canyons, and along streams. It likes shade,
+water, and altitude. Its bark is reddish beneath and scaly or fuzzy on
+the surface. Its limbs stand straight out from the trunk at an acute
+angle, not drooping as those of the redwood and fir.
+
+The sexes are separate in yew. The female tree has a bright red
+gelatinous berry in autumn, and the male a minute cone. It is
+interesting that in bear countries the female trees often have long
+wounds in the bark, or deep scratches made by the claws of these
+animals as they climb to get the yew berries. It is also stated by some
+authorities that the female yew has light yellow wood, is coarser
+grained, and does not make so good a bow. I have tried to verify this,
+but so far I have found some of my bear marked female yew to be the
+better staves.
+
+The best wood is, of course, dark and close grained. This generally
+exists in trees that have one side decayed. It seems that the rot
+stains the rest of the wood and nature makes the grain more compact to
+compensate for the loss of structural strength. It is also apparent
+that yew grown at high altitudes, over three thousand feet, is superior
+to lowland yew.
+
+In selecting a tree for a hunting bow, the stave must be at least six
+feet long, free from limbs, knots, twists, pitch pockets, rot, small
+sprouting twigs and corrugations. One will look over a hundred trees to
+find one good bow stave; then he may find a half dozen excellent staves
+in one tree.
+
+There is no such thing as a perfect piece of yew, nor is there a
+perfect bow; at least, I have never seen it. But there is a bow in
+every yew tree if we but know how to get it out. That is the mystery of
+bowmaking. It takes an artist, not an artisan.
+
+Before one ever fells a tree, he should weigh the moral right to do so.
+But yew trees are a gift from the gods, and grown only for bows. If you
+are sure you see one good bow in a tree, cut it. Having felled it and
+marked with your eye the best stave, cut it again so that your stave is
+seven feet long. Then split the trunk into halves or quarters with
+steel or wooden wedges so that your stave is from three to six inches
+wide. Cut out the heart wood so that the billet is about three inches
+thick. Be careful not to bruise the bark in any of these operations.
+
+Now put your stave in the shade. If you are compelled to ship it by
+express, wrap it in burlap or canvas, and preferably saw the ends
+square and paint them to prevent checking. When you get it home put it
+in the cellar.
+
+If you must make a bow right away, place the stave in running water for
+a month, then dry in a shady place for a month, and it is ready for
+use. It will not be so good as if seasoned three to seven years, but it
+will shoot; in fact, it will shoot the same day you cut it from the
+tree, only it will follow the string and not stand straight as it
+should. Of course, it will not have the cast of air-seasoned wood.
+
+The old authorities say, cut your yew in the winter when the sap is
+down, or as Barnes, the famous bow-maker of Forest Grove, Oregon, used
+to say: "Yew cut in the summer contains the seeds of death." But this
+does not seem to have proved the case in my experience. I am fully
+convinced that the sap can be washed out and the process of seasoning
+hastened very materially by proper treatment.
+
+Kiln dried wood is never good as a bow. It is too brash; but after the
+first month of shade, the staves may be put in a hot attic to their
+advantage.
+
+In selecting the portion of the tree best suited for a bow, choose that
+part that when cut will cause the stave to bend backward toward the
+bark. Since your bow ultimately will bend in the opposite direction,
+this natural curve tends to form a straighter bow, or as an archer
+would say "set back a bit in the handle."
+
+If it is impossible to get a stave six feet in length, then a wide
+stave three and a half feet long may be used. It is necessary in this
+case to split it and join the two pieces with a fishtail splice in the
+handle. Target bows are made this way, to advantage, but such a
+makeshift is to be deprecated in a hunting bow. The variations of
+temperature and moisture combined with hard usage in hunting demand a
+solid, single stave. It must not break. Your life may depend upon it.
+
+Before engaging in any art, it is necessary to study the anatomy of
+your subject. The anatomical points of a bow have a time-honored
+nomenclature and are as follows: Bows may be single staves, or
+one-piece bows, those of one continuity and homogeneity; spliced bows
+consist of two pieces of wood united in the handle; backed bows have an
+added strip of wood glued on the back; and composite bows are made up
+of several different substances, such as wood, horn, sinew, and glue.
+
+That surface of the bow which faces the string when drawn into action,
+that is, the concave arc, is called the belly of the bow. The opposite
+surface is the back. A bow should never be bent backwards, away from
+the belly; it will break.
+
+The center of the bow is the handle or hand grip; the extremities are
+the tips, usually finished with notches cut in the wood or surmounted
+by horn, bone, sinew, wooden or metal caps called nocks. These are
+grooved to accommodate the string. The spaces between the nocks and the
+handle are called the limbs.
+
+A bow that when unstrung bends back past the straight line is termed
+reflexed. One that continues to bend toward the belly is said to follow
+the string. A lateral deviation is called a cast in the bow.
+
+The proper length of a yew bow should be the height of the man that
+shoots it, or a trifle less. Our hunting bows are from five feet six
+inches to five feet eight inches in length. The weight of a hunting bow
+should be from fifty to eighty pounds. One should start shooting with a
+bow not over fifty pounds, and preferably under that. At the end of a
+season's shooting he can command a bow of sixty pounds if he is a
+strong man. Our average bows pull seventy-five pounds. Though it is
+possible for some of us to shoot an eighty-five pound bow, such a
+weapon is not under proper control for constant use.
+
+Some pieces of yew will make a stronger bow at given dimensions than
+others. The finer the grain and the greater the specific gravity, the
+more resilient and active the wood, and stronger the bow.
+
+Taking a yew stave having a dark red color and a layer of white sap
+wood about a quarter of an inch thick, covered with a thin
+maroon-colored bark, let us make a bow. Counting the rings in the wood
+at the upper end of the stave, you will find that they run over forty
+to the inch.
+
+Ishi insisted that this end of the stave should always be the upper end
+of the weapon. It seems to me that this extremity having the most
+compact grain, and the strongest, should constitute the lower limb,
+because, as we shall see later on, this limb is shorter, bears the
+greater strain, and is the one that gives down the sooner.
+
+We shall plan to make the bow as strong as is compatible with good
+shooting, and reduce its strength later to meet our requirements.
+
+Look over the stave and estimate whether it is capable of yielding two
+bows instead of one. If it be over three inches wide, and straight
+throughout, then rip it down the center with a saw. Place one stave in
+a bench vise and carefully clean off the bark with a draw knife. Do not
+cut the sap wood in this process.
+
+Cut your stave to six feet in length. Sight down it and see how the
+plane of the back twists. If it is fairly consistent, draw a straight
+line down the center of the sap wood. This is the back of your bow. Now
+draw on the back an outline which has a width of an inch and a quarter
+extending for a distance of a foot above and a foot below the center.
+Let this outline taper in a gentle curve to the extremities of the bow,
+where it has a width of three-quarters of an inch. This will serve as a
+rough working plan and is sufficiently large to insure that you will
+get a strong weapon.
+
+With the draw knife, and later a jack plane, cut the lateral surfaces
+down to this outline. The back must stand a tremendous tensile strain
+and the grain of the wood should not be injured in any way. But you may
+smooth it off very judiciously with a spoke shave, and later with a
+file. The transverse contour of this part of the bow remains as it was
+in the tree, a long flat arc.
+
+Shift the stave in the vise so that the sap wood is downward, and set
+it so that the average plane of the sap is level. With the raw knife
+shave the wood very carefully, avoiding cutting too deeply or splitting
+off fragments, until the bow assumes the thickness of one and
+one-quarter inches in the center and this decreases as it approaches
+the tips, where it is half an inch thick.
+
+The shape of a cross-section of the belly of the bow should be a full
+Roman arch. Many debates have centered on the shape of this part of the
+weapon. Some contend for a high-crested contour, or Gothic arch, what
+is termed "stacking a bow"; some have chosen a very flat curve as the
+best. The former makes for a quick, lively cast and may be desirable in
+a target implement, but it is liable to fracture; the latter makes a
+soft, pleasant, durable bow, but one that follows the string. Choose
+the happy medium.
+
+The process of shaping the belly is the most delicate and requires more
+skill than all the rest. In the first place you must follow the grain
+of the wood. If the back twists and undulates, your cut must do the
+same. The feather of the grain must never be reversed, but descend by
+perfect gradation from handle to tip.
+
+Where a knot or pin occurs in the wood, here you must leave more
+substance because this is a weak spot. If the pin be large and you
+cannot avoid it, then it is best to drill it out carefully and fill the
+cavity with a solid piece of hard wood set in with glue. A pin crumbles
+while an inserted piece will stand the strain. If such a "Dutchman" be
+not too large nor too near the center of either limb, it will not
+materially jeopardize the bow. If, in your shaving, you come across a
+sharp dip in' the grain, such that will make a decided concavity, here
+leave a few more layers of grain than you would were the contour even;
+for a concave structure cannot stand strain as well as a straight one;
+the leverage is increased unduly.
+
+The following measurements, with a caliper, are those of my favorite
+hunting bow, called "Old Horrible," and with which I've slain many a
+beast. The width just above the handle is 1-1/4 by 1-1/8 inches thick.
+Six inches up the limb the width is 1-1/4, thickness 11-1/16.
+
+Twelve inches above the handle it is a trifle less than 1-1/4 wide by 1
+inch thick. Eighteen inches above the handle it is 1-1/8 wide by 7/8
+thick. Twenty-four inches above it is 15/16 wide by 3/4 thick. Thirty
+inches above it is 11/16 by 9/16 thick. At the nock it is practically
+1/2 by 1/2 inches.
+
+Having got the bow down to rough proportions, the next thing is to cut
+two temporary nocks on it, very near the ends. These consist in lateral
+cuts having a depth of an eighth of an inch and are best made with a
+rat tail file.
+
+Now you can string your bow and test its curve.
+
+Of course, you must have a string, and usually that employed in these
+early tests is very strong and roughly made of nearly ninety strands of
+Barbour's linen, No. 12. Directions for making strings will be given
+later on.
+
+It is difficult to brace a new heavy bow and one will require
+assistance. In the absence of help he can place it in the vise, one of
+those revolving on a pivot, and having the string properly adjusted on
+the lower limb, pull on the upper end in such a way that the other
+presses against the wall or a stationary brace, thus bending the bow
+while you slip the expectant loop over the open nock. Or you can have
+an assistant pull on the upper nock, while you brace the bow yourself.
+
+In ancient times, at this stage, the bow was tillered, or tested for
+its curve, or, as Sir Roger Ascham says, "brought round compass," which
+means to make it bend in a perfect arc when full drawn.
+
+The tiller is a piece of board three feet long, two inches wide, and
+one inch thick, having a V-shaped notch at the lower end to fit on the
+handle and small notches on its side two inches apart, for a distance
+of twenty-eight inches. These are to hold the string.
+
+Lay the braced bow on the floor, place the end of the tiller on the
+handle while you steady the tiller upright. Then put your foot on the
+bow next the tiller and draw the string up until it slips in the first
+notch, say twelve inches from the handle. If the curve of the bow is
+fairly symmetrical, draw the string a few inches more. If again it
+describes a perfect arc raise the string still farther. A perfect arc
+for a bow should be a trifle flat at the center. If, on the other hand,
+one limb or a part of it does not bend as it should, this must be
+reduced carefully by shaving it for a space of several inches over the
+spot and the bow tested again.
+
+Proceeding very cautiously, at the same time not keeping the bow full
+drawn more than a second or two at a time, you ultimately get the two
+limbs so that they bend nearly the same and the general distribution of
+the curve is equal throughout.
+
+As a matter of fact, a great deal of experience is needed here. By
+marking a correct form on the floor with chalk, a novice may fit his
+bow to this outline.
+
+The perfect weapon is a trifle stiff at the center and the lower limb a
+shade stronger than the upper.
+
+The real shooting center, the place where the arrow passes, is actually
+one and one-quarter inches above the geographic center, and the hand
+consequently is below this point. Your finished hand grip, being four
+inches long, will be one and a quarter inches above the center and two
+and three-quarters below the center. This makes the lower limb
+comparatively shorter, so it must be relatively stronger. Your bow,
+therefore, when full drawn should be symmetrical, but when simply
+braced, the bend of the upper limb is perceptibly greater than the
+stronger lower limb.
+
+You will find the bow we have made will pull over eighty pounds, even
+after it is thoroughly broken to the string. It is necessary,
+therefore, to reduce it further. This is done with a spoke shave, a
+very small hand plane or a file. Ultimately I use a pocket knife as a
+scraper, and sandpaper and steelwool to finish it.
+
+Your effort must be to get every part of the wood to do its work, for
+every inch is under utmost strain, and one part doing more than the
+rest must ultimately break down, sustain a compression fracture, or, as
+an archer would say, "chrysal or fret."
+
+"A bow full drawn is seven-eighths broken," said old Thomas Waring, the
+English bowmaker, and he was right. Draw your bow three inches more
+than the standard cloth yard of twenty-eight inches and you break it.
+It is more accurate to say that a full drawn bow is nine-tenths broken.
+
+It is also essential that the bow be stiff in the handle so that it
+will be rigid in shooting and not jar or kick, which one weak at this
+point invariably does.
+
+A bow should be light at the tips, say the last eight inches, which is
+accomplished by rounding the back slightly and reducing the width at
+this point. This gives an active recoil, or as it is described, "whip
+ended." This can be overdone, especially in hunting-bows, where a
+little more solidity and safety are preferable to a brilliant cast.
+
+And so you must work and test your bow, and shoot it, and draw it up
+before a full length mirror and observe its outline, and get your
+friends to draw it up and pass judgment on it. In fact, while the
+actual work of making a bow takes about eight hours, it requires months
+to get one adjusted so that it is good. A bow, like a violin, is a work
+of art. The best in it can only be brought out by infinite care. Like a
+violin, it is all curved contours, there is not a straight line in it.
+Many of my bows have been built over completely three or four times.
+Old Horrible first pulled eighty-five pounds. It was reduced,
+shortened, whip ended, and worked over again and again so to tune the
+wood that all parts acted in harmony. Every good bow is a work of love.
+
+Your bow is now ready to shoot, but let us weigh it first. Brace it and
+put it horizontally in the vise with the string facing you. Take a
+spring scale registering at least eighty pounds and catch the hook
+under the string. Draw it until the yardstick registers twenty-eight
+inches from the string to the back of the bow. Now read the scale; that
+is its weight.
+
+As a matter of convenience I have devised a stick that facilitates the
+weighing. I take a dowel and attach to one end by glue and binding a
+bent piece of iron so fashioned that the extremity serves as a hook to
+draw the string and the bent portion permits the attachment of the
+scale. The dowel is marked off in inches so that one can test different
+lengths of draw. With the bow in the bench vise, this measure hooked on
+the string and resting on the bow at the arrow plate, the scale is
+hooked in place, the dowel drawn down to the standard length and the
+registered weight read off on the scale.
+
+If you still find that your bow is too strong for you, it must be
+further reduced. Begin all over again with the spoke shave and the
+file, trying to correct any inequalities that may have existed before
+and reducing it to what ultimately will be sixty-five pounds. Put on
+the string and weigh it again and again until you get the weight you
+want. If you have reduced it too much, cut it down two or four inches;
+it will be stronger and shoot better.
+
+All yew bows tend to lose in strength after much use, and your new one
+should pull five pounds more than the required weight. If a bow is put
+away in a dry, warm place for several years it nearly always increases
+in strength. In our experience one in constant use lasts from three to
+five years. The longer the bow, the longer its life. Some, of course,
+break or come to grief after a short period, others live to honorable
+old age. Yew bows are in existence today that were made many thousands
+of years ago, but, of course, they would break if shot. Many bows over
+one hundred years old are still in use occasionally. I have estimated
+that the average life of a good bow should exceed one hundred thousand
+shots, after which time it begins to fret and show other signs of
+weakness.
+
+Keeping in mind the idea of making your weapon as beautiful, as
+symmetrical and resilient as possible, free from dead or overstrained
+areas, work it down with utmost solicitude until it approaches your
+ideal. Smooth it with sandpaper; finish it with steelwool.
+
+Now comes the process of putting on the nocks. A bow shoots well
+without them, but is safer with them.
+
+From time immemorial, horn tips have been put on the ends of the limbs
+to hold the string. We have used rawhide, hardwood, aluminum, bone, elk
+horn, deer horn, buffalo horn, paper fiber or composition, and cow's
+horn. The last seems best of all. From your butcher secure a number of
+horns. With a saw cut off three or four inches of the tip. Place one in
+a vise and drill a conical hole in it an inch and a quarter deep and
+half an inch wide. This can be done by using a half-inch drill which
+has been ground on a carborundum stone to a conical point the proper
+length. In this hole set a stout piece of wood with glue. This permits
+you to hold the horn in the vise while you work it.
+
+After the glue has set, take a coarse file and shape the horn nock to
+the classical shape, which is hard to describe but easy to illustrate.
+It must have diagonal grooves to hold the string. The nock for the
+upper limb has also a hole at its extremity to receive the buckskin
+thong which keeps the upper loop of the string from slipping too far
+down the bow when unbraced.
+
+The nocks for hunting bows should be short and stout, not over one and
+a half inches long, for they get a lot of hard usage in their travels.
+They should also be broader and thicker than those used on target bows.
+
+Two nocks having been roughly finished, they are loosened from their
+wooden handles by being soaked in boiling water, and are ready for use.
+Cut the ends of the bow to fit the nocks in such a way that they tip
+slightly backward when in place, but do not attach them yet.
+
+[Illustration: DETAILS OF BOW CONSTRUCTION]
+
+At this point we back the bow with rawhide. Ordinarily a yew bow
+properly protected by sapwood requires no backing; but having had many
+bows break in our hands, we at last took the advice of Ishi and backed
+them. Since then no bow legitimately used has broken.
+
+The rawhide utilized for this purpose is known to tanners as clarified
+calfskin. Its principal use is in the manufacture of artificial limbs,
+drum heads and parchment. Its thickness is not much more than that of
+writing paper.
+
+Having secured two pieces about three feet in length and two inches
+wide, soak them in warm water for an hour.
+
+While this is being done, slightly roughen the back of your bow with a
+file. Place it in the vise and size the back with thin, hot carpenter's
+glue. When the hide is soft, lay the pieces smooth side down on a board
+and wipe off the excess water. Quickly size them with hot glue, remove
+the excess with your finger, turn the pieces over and apply them to the
+bow. Overlap them at the hand grip for a distance of two or three
+inches. Smooth them out toward the tips by stroking and expressing all
+air bubbles and excess glue. Wrap the handle roughly with string to
+keep the strips from slipping; also bind the tips for a short distance
+to secure them in place. Remove the bow from the vise and bandage it
+carefully from tip to tip with a gauze surgical bandage. Set it aside
+to dry over night. When dry, remove the bandage and string binding, cut
+off the overlapping edges of the hide and scrape it smooth. Having got
+it to the required finish, size the exterior again with very thin glue,
+and it is ready for the final stage.
+
+The tips of the bow having been cut to a conical point and the nocks
+fitted prior to the backing process the horn nocks are now set on with
+glue; the ordinary liquid variety will do.
+
+Glue a thin strip of wood on the back of the bow to round out the
+handle. This should be about one-eighth of an inch thick, one inch wide
+and three inches long and rounded at the edges.
+
+Bind the center of your bow with heavy fish line to make the handgrip,
+carefully overlapping the start and finish. A little liquid glue or
+shellac can be placed on the wood to fix the serving. Some prefer
+leather or pigskin for a handgrip, but a cord binding keeps the hand
+from sweating and has an honest feel.
+
+The handle occupies a space of four inches with one and a quarter
+inches above the center and two and three-quarters below it. Finish off
+the edges of the cord binding with a band of thin leather half an inch
+wide. This should be soaked in water, beveled at the edge, sized with
+glue, put around the bow, and overlapped at the back. I also glue a
+small piece of leather on the left-hand side of the bow above the
+handle to prevent the arrow chafing the wood at this spot. This is
+called the arrow plate and usually is made of mother-of-pearl or bone;
+leather is better. These finishing pieces are wrapped temporarily with
+string until they dry.
+
+The bow is then given a final treatment with scraper and steelwool and
+is ready for the varnish.
+
+The best protection for bows seems to be spar varnish. This keeps out
+moisture. It has two disadvantages, however; it cracks after much
+bending, and it is too shiny. The glint or flash of a hunting bow will
+frighten game. I have often seen rabbits or deer stand until the bow
+goes off, then jump in time to escape the arrow. At first we believed
+they saw the arrow; later we found that they saw the flash. Bows really
+should be painted a dull green or drab color. But we love to see the
+natural grain of the wood.
+
+The finish I prefer is first of all to give a coat of shellac to the
+backing, leather trimmings and cord handle. After it is dry, give the
+wood a good soaking with boiled linseed oil. Using the same oiled cloth
+place in its center a small wad of cotton saturated with an alcoholic
+solution of shellac. Rub this quickly over the bow. By repeated oiling
+and shellacking one produces a French polish that is very durable and
+elastic.
+
+Permit this to dry and after several days rub the whole weapon with
+floor wax, giving a final polish with a woolen cloth.
+
+When on a hunt one should carry a small quantity of linseed oil and
+anoint his bow every day or so with it. Personally I add one part of
+light cedar oil to two parts of linseed. The fragrance of the former
+adds to the pleasure of using the latter.
+
+When not in use hang your bow on a peg or nail slipped beneath the
+upper loop of the string; do not stand it in a corner, this tends to
+bend the lower limb. Keep it in a warm, dry room; preserve it from
+bruises and scratches. Wax it and the string often. Care for it as you
+would a friend; it is your companion in arms.
+
+
+SUBSTITUTES FOR YEW
+
+
+Where it is impossible to obtain yew, the amateur bowyer has a large
+variety of substitutes. Probably the easiest to obtain is hickory,
+although it is a poor alternative. I believe the pig-nut or smooth bark
+is the best variety. One should endeavor to get a piece of second
+growth, white sapwood, and split it so as to get straight grain.
+
+This can be worked on the same general dimensions as yew, but the
+resulting bow will be found slow and heavy in cast and to have an
+incurable tendency to follow the string. It will need no rawhide back
+and will never break.
+
+Osage orange, mulberry, locust, black walnut with the sap wood, red
+cedar, juniper, tan oak, apple wood, ash, eucalyptus, lancewood,
+washaba, palma brava, elm, birch, and bamboo are among the many woods
+from which bows have been made.
+
+With the exception of lancewood, lemon wood, or osage orange, which are
+hard to get, the next best wood to yew is red Tennessee cedar backed
+with hickory.
+
+Go to a lumber yard and select a plank of cedar having the fewest knots
+and the straightest grain. Saw or split a piece out of it six feet
+long, two inches wide, and about an inch thick. Plane it straight and
+roughen its two-inch surface with a file. Obtain a strip of white
+straight-grained hickory six feet long, two inches wide, and a quarter
+inch thick.
+
+Roughen one surface, spread these two rough surfaces with a good liquid
+glue and place them together. With a series of clamps compress them
+tightly. In the absence of clamps, a pile of bricks or weights may be
+used. After several days it will be dry enough to work.
+
+From this point on it may be treated the same as yew. The hickory
+backing takes the place of the sap wood.
+
+Cedar has a soft, lively cast and the hickory backing makes it almost
+unbreakable.
+
+This bow should be bound with linen or silk every few inches like a
+fishing rod. Several coats of varnish will keep the glue from being
+affected by moisture or rain.
+
+Since both woods are usually obtainable at any lumber yard, there
+should be no difficulty in the matter save the mechanical factors
+involved. These only add zest to the problem. A true archer must be a
+craftsman.
+
+
+MAKING A BOWSTRING
+
+
+A bow without a string is dead; therefore, we must set to work to make
+one.
+
+Sinew, catgut, and rawhide strings were used by the early archers, but
+have been abandoned by the more modern. Animal tissue stretches when it
+is put under strain or subjected to heat and moisture. Silk makes a
+good string, but it is short-lived and is not so strong as linen.
+
+A comparative test of various strings was made to determine which
+material is the strongest for bows. Number 3 surgical catgut is
+apparently a D string on the violin. Taking this as a standard
+diameter, a series of waxed strings of various substances were made and
+tested on a spring scale for their breaking point. The results are as
+follows:
+
+    Horsehair            breaks at 15 pounds.
+    Cotton               breaks at 18 pounds.
+    Catgut               breaks at 20 pounds.
+    Silk                 breaks at 22 pounds.
+    Irish linen          breaks at 28 pounds.
+    Chinese grass fiber  breaks at 32 pounds.
+
+This latter, with similar unusual fibers, is not on the market in the
+form of thread, so is of no practical use to us.
+
+We use Irish linen or shoemakers' thread. It is Barbour's Number 12.
+Each thread will stand a strain of six pounds; therefore, a bowstring
+of fifty strands will suspend a weight of 300 pounds.
+
+A target bow may have a proportionately lighter string than a hunting
+bow because here a quick cast is desired; but in hunting, security is
+necessary. We therefore allow one strand of linen for every pound of
+the bow.
+
+This is the method of manufacturing a bowstring as devised by the late
+Mr. Maxson and described in _American Archery_. Some few alterations
+have been introduced to simplify the technique.
+
+It is advisable to take the threads in your hands as you follow the
+directions.
+
+If you propose making a string for a sixty-five-pound bow, it should
+have about sixty threads in it, and these are divided into three
+strands of twenty threads each. Start making the first of these strands
+by measuring off on the bow a length eight inches beyond each end--that
+is, sixteen inches longer than your bow. Double your thread back,
+drawing it through your hand until you reach the beginning. Now repeat
+the process of laying one thread with another, back and forth, until
+twenty are in the strand. But these must be so arranged that each is
+about half an inch shorter than the preceding, thus making the end of
+the strand tapered.
+
+When twenty are thus stroked into one cord, they are heavily waxed by
+drawing the strand through the hand and wax, from center to the ends,
+each way. Now roll the greater part of this strand about your fingers
+and make a little coil which you compress, but allow about twenty-four
+inches to remain free and uncoiled. Thus abbreviated it is easier to
+handle in the subsequent process of twisting it into a cord.
+
+Make two other strands exactly like this, roll them into a compressed
+coil and lay them aside. Now to form the loop or eye it is necessary to
+thicken the string at this point with an additional splice. So lay out
+another strand of twenty threads six feet long. Cut this into six
+pieces, each twelve inches in length. Take one of these and so pull the
+ends of the threads that they are made of uneven length, or that the
+ends become tapered. Wax this splice thoroughly; do this to each one in
+turn.
+
+Now pick up one of your original strands and apply to its tapered end
+and lying along the last foot of its length one of the above described
+splices. Wax the two together. So treat the two other strands.
+
+Grasp the three cords together in your left hand at a point nine inches
+from the end. With the right hand pick up one strand near this point
+and twist it between the thumb and finger, away from you, rolling it
+tight, at the same time pulling it toward you. Seize another strand,
+twist it from you and pull it toward you. Continue this process with
+each in succession, and you will find that you are making a rope. By
+the time the rope is three inches in length, it is long enough to fold
+on itself and constitute a loop. Proceed to double it back so that the
+loose ends of the strands are mated and waxed into cohesion with the
+three main strands of the string. Arrange them nicely so that they
+interlace properly and are evenly applied.
+
+Now while being seated, slip the upper limb of your bow under your
+right knee and over the left, and drop the new formed loop of your
+string over the horn nock. Begin again the process of twisting each
+strand away from you while you pull it toward you. Continue the motion
+until you have run down the string a distance of eight inches. During
+the process you will see the wisdom of having rolled the excess string
+up into little skeins to keep them from being tangled. Thus the upper
+eye is formed. At this stage unwind your skeins and stretch the string
+down the bow, untwisting and drawing straight the three strands.
+
+Seize them now three inches below the lower nock of your bow. At this
+point apply the short splices for the lower loop. They should be so
+laid on that three inches extends up the string from this point and the
+rest lies along the tapered extremity. Wax them tight. Hold the three
+long strands together while you give them final equalizing traction.
+Start here and twist your second loop, drawing each strand toward you
+as you twist it away from you until a rope of three inches is formed
+again. This you double back on itself, mate its tapered extremities
+with the three long strands of the string and wax them together.
+
+Slip the upper loop down your bow and nock the lower loop on the lower
+horn. Swing your right knee over the bow below the string and set the
+loop on this horn while you work. Give the string plenty of slack.
+
+Start again the twisting and pulling operation, keeping the strands
+from tangles while you form the lower splice of the string. When it is
+eight inches long, take off the loop and unroll the twist in the main
+body of the string. Replace the loop and brace your bow. This will take
+the kinks from the cord. Wax it thoroughly and, removing the lower
+loop, twist the entire bowstring in the direction of the previous
+maneuver until it is shortened to the proper length to fit the bow.
+Nock the string again and, taking a thick piece of paper, fold it into
+a little pad and rub the bowstring vigorously until it assumes a round,
+well-waxed condition.
+
+If the loops are properly placed, the final twisting should make one
+complete rotation of the string in a distance of one or two inches. A
+closer twist tends to cut itself.
+
+If, by mistake, the string is too short or too long, and adjusting the
+twist does not correct it, then you must undo the last loop to overcome
+the error. The fork of these loops is often bound with waxed carpet
+thread to reduce their size and strengthen them. The whole structure at
+this point may be served with the same thread to protect it from
+becoming chafed and worn.
+
+The center of the string and the nocking point for the arrow must now
+be served with waxed silk, linen, or cotton thread to protect it from
+becoming worn.
+
+Ordinarily we take a piece of red carpet thread or shoe button thread,
+about two yards in length, wax it thoroughly and double it. Start with
+the doubled end, threading the free end through it around the string,
+and wind it over, from right to left. The point of starting this
+serving is two and one-half inches above the center of the bowstring.
+
+When you come to the nocking point, or that at which an arrow stands
+perpendicular to the string while crossing the bow at the top of the
+handle, make a series of overlapping threads or clove hitches. This
+will form a little lump or knot on the string at this point. Continue
+serving for half an inch and repeat this maneuver; again continue the
+serving down the string for a distance of four or five inches,
+finishing with a fixed lashing by drawing the thread under the last two
+or three wraps.
+
+A nocking point of this character has two advantages: the first is that
+you can feel it readily while nocking an arrow in the dark or while
+keeping your eye on the game, and the other point is that the knots
+prevent the arrow being dislodged while walking through the brush.
+
+We have found that by heating our beeswax and adding about one-quarter
+rosin, it makes it more adhesive.
+
+In hot or wet weather it is of some advantage to rub the string with an
+alcoholic solution of shellac. Compounds containing glue or any hard
+drying substance seem to cause the strings to break more readily.
+Paraffin, talcum powder, or a bit of tallow candle rubbed on the
+serving and nocking point is useful in making a clean release of the
+string.
+
+So far as dampness and rain go, these never interfere with the action
+of the string. A well-greased bow will stand considerable water, though
+arrows suffer considerably.
+
+Wax your string every few days if in use; you should always carry an
+extra one with you.
+
+Strings break most commonly at the nocking point beneath the serving.
+Here they sustain the greatest strain and are subject to most bending.
+An inspection at this point frequently should be done. An impending
+break is indicated by an uneven contour of the strands beneath the
+serving. Discard it before it actually breaks.
+
+By putting a spring scale between one of the bow nocks and the end of
+the string, the unexpected phenomenon is demonstrated that there is
+greater tension on a string when the bow is braced but not drawn up. A
+fifty-six pound bow registers a sixty-four pound tension on the string.
+As the arrow is drawn up the tension decreases gradually until
+twenty-six inches are drawn, when it registers sixty-four pounds again.
+
+At the moment of recoil, when the bow springs back into position, this
+strain must rise tremendously, for if the arrow be not in place the
+string frequently will be broken.
+
+The tension on the string at the center or nocking point during the
+process of drawing a bow--that is, the accumulated weight--rises quite
+differently in different bows. The arrow being nocked on the string, it
+is ordinarily already six inches drawn across the bow. Now in the same
+fifty-six pound bow for every inch of draw past this, the weight rises
+between two and three pounds. As the arrow nears full draw, the weight
+increases to such a degree that the last few inches will register five
+or six pounds to the inch, depending on many variable factors in the
+bow.
+
+The gradient thus formed dictates the character of a bow to a great
+extent. One that pulls softly at first and in the last part of the draw
+is very stiff, will require more careful shooting to get the exact
+length of flight than one whose tension is evenly distributed.
+
+Reflexed bows are harder on strings than those that follow the string.
+A breaking cord may fracture your bow. I saw Wallace Bryant lose a
+beautiful specimen this way. One of Aldred's most perfect make, dark
+Spanish yew and more than fifty years old, flew to splinters just
+because a treacherous string parted in the center. Sturdy hunting bows
+are not so liable to this catastrophe, but be sure you are not caught
+out in a game country with a broken string and no second. You will see
+endless opportunities to shoot. Wax is to an archer what tar is to a
+sailor; use it often, and always have two strings to your bow.
+
+
+
+
+VI
+
+
+HOW TO MAKE AN ARROW
+
+
+Fletching is a very old art and, necessarily, must have many empirical
+methods and principles involved. There are innumerable types of arrows,
+and an equal number of ways of making them. For an excellent
+description of a good way to make target arrows, the reader is referred
+to that chapter by Jackson in the book _American Archery_.
+
+Having learned several aboriginal methods of fletching and studied all
+the available literature on the subject, we have adopted the following
+maneuvers to turn out standard hunting arrows: The first requisite is
+the shaft. Having tested birch, maple, hickory, oak, ash, poplar,
+alder, red cedar, mahogany, palma brava, Philippine nara, Douglas fir,
+red pine, white pine, spruce, Port Orford cedar, yew, willow, hazel,
+eucalyptus, redwood, elderberry, and bamboo, we have adopted birch as
+the most rigid, toughest and suitable in weight for hunting arrows.
+Douglas fir and Norway pine are best for target shafts; bamboo for
+flight arrows.
+
+The commercial dowel, frequently called a maple dowel, is made of white
+birch and is exactly suited to our purpose. It may be obtained in
+quantities from dealers in hardwoods, or from sash and door mills. If
+possible, you should select these dowels yourself, to see that they are
+straight, free from cross-grain, and of a rigid quality. For hunting
+bows drawing over sixty pounds, the dowels should be three-eighths of
+an inch in diameter; for lighter bows five-sixteenths dowels should be
+used. They come in three-foot lengths and bundles of two hundred and
+fifty. It is a good plan to buy a bundle at a time and keep them in the
+attic to dry and season.
+
+Where dowels are not obtainable, you can have a hickory or birch plank
+sawed up or split into sticks half an inch in diameter, and plane these
+to the required size, or turn them on a lathe, or run them through a
+dowel-cutting machine.
+
+Take a dozen dowels from your stock and cut them to a length of
+twenty-eight and one-quarter inches, or an inch less or more according
+to the length of your arms. In doing this you should try to remove the
+worst end, keeping that portion with the straightest grain for the head
+of your shaft.
+
+Having cut them to length, take a hand plane and shave the last six
+inches of the rear end or shaftment so that the diameter is reduced to
+a trifle more than five-sixteenths of an inch at the extremity.
+
+Now comes the process of straightening your shafts. By squinting down
+the length of the dowel you can observe the crooked portions. If these
+are very bad, they should be heated gently over a gas flame and then
+bent into proper line over the base of the thumb or palm. A pair of
+gloves will protect the hand from burning. If the deviation be slight,
+then mere manual pressure is often sufficient. During this process the
+future arrow should be tested for strength. If it cannot stand
+considerable bending it deserves to break. If it is limber, discard it.
+
+Nocking the shaft comes next. Hunting arrows require no horn, bone,
+aluminum, or fiber nock. Simply place the smaller end of the shaft in a
+vise and cut the end across the grain with three hack saws bound
+together, your cut being about an eighth of an inch wide by
+three-eighths deep; finish it carefully with a file. Thus nock them all
+and sandpaper them smooth throughout, rounding the nocked end
+gracefully. To facilitate this process I place one end in a
+motor-driven chuck and hold the rapidly revolving shaft in a piece of
+sandpaper in my hand. When finished the diameter should be a trifle
+under three-eighths of an inch at the center and about five-sixteenths
+at the nock.
+
+Mark them now, where the feathers and binding should go. At a point one
+inch from the base of the nock make a circular line, this is for the
+rear binding; five inches above this make another, this is for the
+feather; one inch above this make another, this is for the front
+binding; and an inch above this make another, this is for the painted
+ribbon.
+
+Feathers come next, but really they should have come long ago. The best
+are turkey feathers, so we won't talk about any others. The time to get
+them is at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Then you should get on good
+terms with your butcher and have him save you a boxful of turkey wings.
+These you chop with a hatchet on a block, saving only the six or seven
+long pinions. Put them away with moth balls until you need them. Of
+course, if you cannot get turkey feathers when you want them, goose,
+chicken, duck, or plumes from a feather duster may be employed. Your
+milliner can tell you where to purchase goose feathers, but these are
+expensive.
+
+Cutting arrow feathers is a pleasant occupation around the fire in the
+winter evenings, and the real archer has the happiness of making his
+tackle while his mind dwells upon the coming spring shooting. As he
+makes his shaft he wonders what fate will befall it. Will it speed away
+in a futile shot, or last the grilling of a hundred practice flights,
+or will it be that fortunate arrow which flies swift and true and
+brings down the bounding deer? How often have I picked up a shaft and
+marked it, saying, "With this I'll kill a bear." And with some I've
+done it, too!
+
+So your feathers should be cut in quantity. This is the way you cut
+them: Select a good clean one, steady it between your palms while with
+your fingers you separate the bristles at the tip. Pull them apart,
+thus splitting the rib down the center. If by chance it should not
+split evenly, take your sharpened penknife and cut it straight.
+
+Have ready a little spring clip, such as is used to hold your cravat or
+magazine in a book store. One end of this is bent about a safety-pin so
+that it can be fastened to your trousers at the knee. Now you have a
+sort of knee vise to hold your feather while trimming it. Place the
+butt of the rib in the jaws of the clip and shave it down to the
+thickness of a thirty-second of an inch. Make this even and level so
+that the feather stands perpendicular to it. With a pair of long
+scissors cut off the lateral excess of rib on the concave side of the
+feather. This permits it to straighten out.
+
+At the same stage cut the feather roughly to shape; that is, five
+inches long, half an inch at the anterior end, an inch wide
+posteriorly, and having an inch of stem projecting at each extremity.
+
+For this work you must keep your pocket-knife very sharp. With practice
+you should cut a feather in two or three minutes.
+
+Donnan Smith, a worthy archer and a good fletcher, has devised a spring
+clamp which holds the feather while being cut. It is composed of a
+strong binder clip to which are soldered two thin metal jaws the size
+and shape of a properly cut feather. Having stripped his feather, he
+clamps it rib uppermost between the jaws and trims the rib with a
+knife, or on a fast-revolving emery stone, or sandpaper disc. This
+accomplished, he turns the feather around in the clamp and cuts the
+bristles to the exact shape of the metal jaws with a pair of scissors.
+It is an admirable method.
+
+Some fletchers cut their feathers on a board by eye with only a knife.
+James Duff, the well-known American maker of tackle, learned this in
+the shop of Peter Muir, the famous Scotch fletcher.
+
+If you wish to dye your feathers it may be done by obtaining the
+aniline dye used on wool. Adding about 10 per cent of vinegar to the
+aqueous solution of the stain, heat it to such a temperature that you
+can just stand your finger in it. Soak your feathers in this hot
+solution, stir them for several minutes, then lay them out on a piece
+of newspaper to dry in the sun. Red, orange, and yellow are used for
+this purpose; the former helps one to find a lost arrow, but all colors
+tend to run if wet, and stain the clothing.
+
+Having prepared a sufficient quantity of feathers, you are ready to
+fledge your shaft. Select three of a similar color, strength, and from
+the same wing of the bird. With a stick, run a little liquid glue along
+the rib of each and lay it aside. Along the axis of your arrow run
+three parallel lines of glue down the shaftment. The first of these is
+for the cock feather and should be on a line perpendicular to the nock.
+The other two are equidistant from this. A novice should mark these
+lines with a pencil at first.
+
+Now comes a difficult task, that of putting on the feathers. Many ways
+and means have been devised, and in target arrows nothing is better
+than just sticking them on by hand. Some have used clamps, some use
+pins, some lash the feathers on at the extremities with thread, and
+then glue beneath them. We take the oldest of all methods, which is
+shown in the specimens of old Saxon arrows rescued from the Nylander
+boat in Holland, [1]
+[Footnote 1: See _Archer's Register_ of 1912.]
+also depicted in many old English paintings--that of binding the
+feathers with a piece of thread running spirally up the shaft between
+the bristles.
+
+Starting at a point six inches from the nock, set your thick end of the
+rib in position on the lines of glue. Hold the shaft under your left
+arm while with the left thumb, forefinger, and middle finger steady the
+feathers as they are respectively put in place. With one end of a piece
+of cotton basting thread in your teeth and the spool in your right
+hand, start binding the ribs down to the arrow shaft. After a few turns
+proceed up the shaftment, adjusting the feathers in position as you
+rotate the arrow. Let your basting thread slip between the bristles of
+the feather about half an inch apart. When you come to the rear end,
+finish up with several overlapping turns and a half-hitch. Line up your
+feathers so that they run straight down the shaftment and are
+equidistant. Of one thing be very sure--see that your feather runs a
+trifle toward the concave side, looking from the rear, and that the
+rear end deviates quite perceptibly toward this direction. This insures
+proper steering qualities to your arrow. Set it aside and let it dry.
+
+When all are dry, remove the basting thread and trim the ribs to the
+pencil marks, leaving them about three-quarters of an inch long. Bevel
+their ends to a slender taper.
+
+The next process is that of binding the feathers in position. The
+material which we use for this purpose is known as ribonzine, a thin
+silk ribbon used to bind candy boxes. In the absence of this, floss
+silk may be employed. Cut it into pieces about a foot long. Put a
+little liquid glue on the space reserved for binding and, while
+revolving the shaft under your arm, apply the ribbon in lapping spirals
+over the feather ribs. Cover them completely and have the binding
+smooth and well sized in glue. The ribbon near the nock serves to
+protect the wood at this point from splitting. When dry, clean your
+shaft from ragged excess of glue with knife and sandpaper, and finish
+up by running a little diluted glue with a small brush along the side
+of the feather ribs to make them doubly secure.
+
+Now comes the painting.
+
+We paint arrows not so much for gayness, as to preserve them against
+moisture, to aid in finding them when lost, and to distinguish one
+man's shaft from another's.
+
+Chinese vermilion and bright orange are colors which are most
+discernible in the grass and undergrowth. With a narrow brush, paint
+between your feathers, running up slightly on to the rib, covering the
+glue. If your silk ribbon binding is a bright color--mine is green--you
+can leave it untouched. We often paint the nock a distinguishing color
+to indicate the type of head at the other end, so that in drawing the
+shaft from the quiver we can know beforehand what sort it will be. The
+livery should be painted in several different rings. My own colors are
+red, green, and white.
+
+One or two coats are applied according to the fancy of the archer. The
+line between the various pigments should be striped with a thin black
+ring.
+
+Unless you use a lathe to hold your arrows in the painting process, you
+can employ two wooden blocks or rests, one having a shallow countersunk
+hole on its lateral face to hold the nock while rotating, the other
+having a groove on its upper surface. Clamp these on a bench, or on the
+opposite arms of your easy chair before the fire, and you can turn your
+shafts slowly by hand while you steady your brush and apply the paint
+in even rings.
+
+At this stage I have added a device which seems to be helpful in
+nocking arrows in the dark, or while keeping one's eye on the game.
+Having put a drop of glue on the ribbon immediately above the nock and
+behind the cock feather, I affix a little white glass bead. One can
+feel this with his thumb as he nocks his arrow, when in conjunction
+with knots on his string, he can perform this maneuver entirely by
+touch.
+
+The paint having dried, varnish or shellac your arrow its entire
+length, avoiding, of course, any contact with the feathers. In due time
+sandpaper the shaft and repeat the varnishing. Rub this down with
+steelwool and give it a finishing touch with floor wax.
+
+Here we are ready for the arrow-heads.
+
+We use three types of points. The first is a blunt head made by binding
+the end of the shaft with thin tinned iron wire for half an inch and
+running on solder, then drilling a hole in the end of the shaft and
+inserting an inch round-headed screw. In place of soldered wire, one
+can use an empty 38-caliber cartridge, either cutting off the base or
+drilling out the priming aperture to admit the screw. This type of
+arrow we use for rough practice, shooting tin cans, trees, boxes, and
+other impedimenta. It makes a good shaft for birds, rabbits, and small
+game.
+
+A second type of head we use is made of soft steel about a sixteenth of
+an inch thick. We cut it with a hack saw into a blunt, barbed,
+lanceolate shape having a blade about an inch long and half an inch
+wide, also a tang about the same length and three-eighths of an inch
+wide.
+
+This we set into a slot sawed in the arrow in the same plane as the
+nock, and bind the shaft with tinned wire, number 30, soldered
+together. The end of the shaft has a gradual bevel where it meets the
+lateral face of the head.
+
+This is a sturdy little point and will stand much abuse. We use it for
+shooting birds, squirrels, and small vermin.
+
+But the point that we prefer to shoot is the old English broad-head.
+Starting from small dimensions, we have gradually increased its size,
+weight and strength and cutting qualities till now we shoot a head
+whose blade is three inches long, an inch and a quarter wide, a trifle
+less than a thirty-second thick. It has a haft or tubular shank an inch
+long. Its weight is half an ounce. The blades are made of spring steel.
+After annealing the steel we score it diagonally with a hack saw, when
+it may be broken in triangular pieces in a vise. With a cold chisel, an
+angular cut is made in the base to form the barbs. With a file and
+carborundum stone, they are edged and shaped into blades as sharp as
+knives. Soft, cold drawn steel will serve quite as well as spring steel
+for these blades, but it does not hold its edge. It may be purchased at
+hardware supply depots in the form of strips an inch and a half wide,
+by one-thirty-second thick, and is much easier to work than the
+tempered variety.
+
+Then taking three-eighths number .22 gauge steel or brass tubing, we
+smash it to a short bevel on the anvil, file off the corners and cut it
+to a length of an inch and three-quarters. This makes the haft or
+socket. Fixing a blade, barbs uppermost in the vise, this tubing is
+driven lightly into position, the filed edges of the beveled end
+permitting the blade to be held between the sides of the tubing. A
+small hole is drilled through the tubing and blade, and a soft iron
+wire rivet is inserted. The blade is held over a gas flame while the
+joint between it and the tubing is filled with soft soldering compound
+and ribbon solder.
+
+The heated head is plunged into water and later finished with file and
+emery cloth. The whole process of making a steel broad-head requires
+about twenty minutes. Every archer should manufacture his own. Then he
+will treat them with more respect. Very few artisans can make them, and
+if they can, their price is exorbitant.
+
+Be sure that your heads are straight and true. To set them on your
+shaft, cut the wood to fit, then heat a bit of ferrule cement and set
+them on in the same plane as the nock. In the absence of ferrule
+cement, which can be had at all sporting goods stores, one can use
+chewing gum, or better yet, a mixture of caoutchouc pitch and scale
+shellac heated together in equal parts. Heat your fixative as you would
+sealing wax, over a candle, also heat the arrow and the metal head. Put
+on with these adhesives, it seldom pulls off. In the wilds we often fix
+the head with pine resin. Glue can be used, but it is not so good.
+
+Having brought your arrows to this stage, the next act is to trim the
+feathers. First run them gently through the hand and smooth out their
+veins; then with long-bladed scissors cut them so that the anterior end
+is three-eighths of an inch high, while the posterior extremity is one
+inch. I also cut the rear tip of the feather diagonally across,
+removing about half an inch to prevent it getting in the way of the
+fingers when on the string.
+
+Mr. Arthur Young cuts his feathers in a long parabola with a die made
+of a knife blade bent into shape. These things are largely a matter of
+taste.
+
+Look your arrows over; see that they are straight and that the feathers
+are in good shape, then shoot them to observe their flight. Number them
+above the ribbon so that you can keep record of their performances. The
+weight of such an arrow is one and one-half ounces.
+
+The small blunt, barb-headed arrows we often paint red their entire
+length. Because they are meant for use in the brush, they are more
+readily lost; the bright color saves many a shaft.
+
+To make a hunting arrow requires about an hour, and one should be
+willing to look for one almost this time when it is lost. Finding
+arrows is an acquired art. Don't forget the advice of Bassanio: "In my
+school days when I had lost one shaft, I shot his fellow of the
+self-same flight, the self-same way, with more advised watch to find
+the other forth; and by adventuring both, I oft found both."
+
+If, indeed, the shaft cannot be found, then give it up with good grace,
+remembering that after all it is pleasant work to make one. Dedicate it
+to the cause of archery with the hope that in future days some one may
+pick it up and, pricking his finger on the barb, become inoculated with
+the romance of archery.
+
+When an arrow lodges in a root or tree, we work the head back and forth
+very carefully to withdraw it. A little pair of pliers comes in very
+handy here. If it is buried deeply we cut the wood away from it with a
+hunting knife. Blunt arrows, called bird bolts by Shakespeare, are best
+to shoot up in the branches of trees at winged and climbing game.
+
+In our quivers we usually carry several light shafts we call eagle
+arrows, because they are designed principally for shooting at this
+bird.
+
+Once while hunting deer, and observing a doe and fawn drinking at a
+pool, we saw a magnificent golden eagle swoop down, catch the startled
+fawn and lift it from the ground. Mr. Compton and I, having such arrows
+in our quivers, let fly at the struggling bird of prey. We came so
+close that the eagle loosened the grip of his talons and the fawn
+dropped to earth and sped off with its mother, safe for the time being.
+
+[Illustration: SEVERAL STEPS IN ARROW MAKING]
+
+Often we have shot at hawks and eagles high up in the air, where to
+reach them we needed a very light arrow, and they have had many close
+calls. For these we use a five-sixteenths dowel, feather it with short,
+low cut parabolic feathers and put a small barbed head on it about an
+inch in length. Such an arrow we paint dark green, blue, or black, so
+that the bird cannot discern its flight.
+
+It is great sport to shoot at some lazy old buzzard as he comes within
+range. He can see the ordinary arrow, and if you shoot close, he
+dodges, swoops downward, flops sidewise, twists his head round and
+round, and speeds up to leave the country. He presents the comic
+picture of a complacent old gentleman suddenly disturbed in his
+monotonous existence and frightened into a most unbecoming loss of
+dignity.
+
+Eagle arrows can be used for lofty flights, to span great canyons, to
+rout the chattering bluejay from the topmost limb of a pine, and sooner
+or later we shall pierce an eagle on the wing.
+
+We make another kind of shaft that we call a "floo-floo." In Thompson's
+_Witchery of Archery_ he describes an arrow that his Indian companion
+used, which gave forth such a fluttering whistle when in flight that
+they called it by this euphonious name. This is made by constructing
+the usual blunt screw-headed shaft and fledging it with wide uncut
+feathers. It is useful in shooting small game in the brush, because its
+flight is impeded and, missing the game, it soon loses momentum and
+stops. It does not bound off into the next county, but can be found
+near by. As a rule, these are steady, straight fliers for a short
+distance.
+
+In finishing the nock of an arrow, it should be filed so that it fits
+the string rather snugly, thus when in place it is not easily disturbed
+by the ordinary accidents of travel. Still this tightness should be at
+the entrance of the nock, while the bottom of the nock is made a trifle
+more roomy with a round file. I file all my nocks to fit a certain
+two-inch wire nail whose diameter is just that of my bowstring.
+
+After arrows have been shot for a time and their feathers have settled,
+they should again be trimmed carefully to their final proportions. The
+heads, if found too broad for perfect flight, should be ground a trifle
+narrower.
+
+When hunting, one does well to carry in his pocket a small flat file
+with which to sharpen his broad-heads before shooting them. They should
+have a serrated, meat-cutting edge. Even carrying arrows in a quiver
+tends to dull them, because they chafe each other while in motion. From
+time to time you should rub the shafts and heads with the mixture of
+cedar and linseed oil, thus keeping them clean and protected from
+dampness.
+
+On a hunting trip an archer should carry with him in his repair kit,
+extra feathers, heads, cement, a tube of glue, ribonzine, linen thread,
+wax, paraffin, sandpaper, emery cloth, pincers, file and small
+scissors. With these he can salvage many an arrow that otherwise would
+be too sick to shoot.
+
+Extra arrows are carried in a light wooden box which has little
+superimposed racks on which they rest and are kept from crushing each
+other.
+
+As a rule, nothing does an arrow so much good as to shoot it, and
+nothing so much harm as to have it lie inactive and crowded in the
+quiver.
+
+The flight of an arrow is symbolic of life itself. It springs from the
+bow with high aim, flies toward the blue heaven above, and seems to
+have immortal power. The song of its life is sweet to the ear. The rush
+of its upward arc is a promise of perpetual progress. With perfect
+grace it sweeps onward, though less aspiring. Then fluttering
+imperceptibly, it points downward and with ever-increasing speed,
+approaches the earth, where, with a deep sigh, it sinks in the soil,
+quivers with spent energy, and capitulates to the inevitable.
+
+
+
+
+VII
+
+
+ARCHERY EQUIPMENT
+
+
+Besides a bow and arrow, the archer needs to have a quiver, a bow case,
+a waterproof quiver case, an arm guard or bracer, and a shooting glove
+or leather finger tips. Our quivers are made of untanned deer hide,
+usually from deer shot with the bow. The hide, having been properly
+cleaned, stretched, and dried, is cut down the center, each half making
+a quiver. Marking a quadrilateral outline twenty-four inches on two
+sides, twelve at the larger end, and nine at the smaller, in such a way
+that the hair points from the larger to the smaller end; cut this piece
+and soak it in water until soft, and wash it clean with soap. At the
+same time cut a circular piece off the tough neck skin, three inches in
+diameter.
+
+With a furrier's needle having three sharp edges, and heavy waxed
+thread, or better yet, with catgut, sew up the longer sides of the skin
+with a simple overcast stitch. Let the hair side be in while sewing. In
+the smaller end sew the circular bottom. Invert the quiver on a stick;
+turn back a cuff of hide one inch deep at the top. To do this nicely,
+the hair should be clipped away at this point. This cuff stiffens the
+mouth of the quiver and keeps it always open.
+
+Now put your quiver over a wooden form to dry.
+
+[Illustration: ARROW HEADS OF VARIOUS SORTS USED IN HUNTING]
+
+I have one like a shoemaker's last, made of two pieces of wood
+separated by a thin slat which can be removed, permitting easy
+withdrawal of the quiver after drying. When dry, your quiver will be
+about twenty-two inches deep, four inches across the top, and slightly
+conical.
+
+Cut a strip of deer hide eight inches long by one and a half wide,
+shave it, double the hair side in, and attach it to the seamy side of
+the quiver by perforating the leather and inserting a lacing of
+buckskin thongs. Leave the loop of this strap projecting two inches
+above the top of the quiver. In the bottom of your quiver drop a round
+piece of felt or carpet to prevent the arrow points coming through the
+hide.
+
+If you are not so fortunate as to have deer hide, you may use any stiff
+leather, or even canvas. This latter can be made stiff by painting or
+varnishing it.
+
+Such a receptacle will hold a dozen broad-heads very comfortably and
+several more under pressure. It should swing from a belt at the right
+hip in such a way that in walking it does not touch the leg, while in
+shooting it is accessible to the right hand or may then be shifted
+slightly to the front for convenience.
+
+In running we usually grasp the quiver in the right hand, not only to
+prevent it interfering with locomotion, but to keep the arrows from
+rattling and falling out. When on the trail of an animal we habitually
+stuff a twig of leaves, a bunch of ferns or a bit of grass in the mouth
+of the quiver to damp the soft rustling of the arrows. Sometimes, in
+going through brush or when running, we carry the quiver on a belt
+slung over the left shoulder. Here they are out of the way and give the
+legs full action.
+
+To keep the arrows dry, and to cover them while traveling, we make a
+sheath for the quiver of waterproof muslin. This is long enough to
+cover the arrows and has a wire ring a bit larger than the top of the
+quiver sewn in the cloth some three inches from the upper end. This
+keeps the feathers from being crushed. The mouth of this cover is
+closed with a drawstring. On the side adjacent to the strap of the
+quiver, an aperture is cut to permit this being brought through and
+fastened to the belt.
+
+The bow itself has a long narrow case made of the same cloth, or
+canvas, or green baize with a drawstring at the top and a leather tip
+at the bottom. Where several bows are packed together, each has a
+woolen bow case and all are carried in a canvas bag, composition
+carrying cylinder, or in a wooden bow box. In hunting we prefer the
+canvas bag, but you must carry it yourself, any one else will break
+your bows.
+
+The bracer, or arm guard, is a cuff of leather worn on the left forearm
+to prevent the stroke of the bowstring doing damage. Some archers can
+shoot without this protection, but others, because of their style of
+shooting or their anatomical formation, need it. It can be made like a
+butcher's cuff, some six or eight inches long, partially surrounding
+the forearm and fastened by three little straps or by lacing in the
+back. Another form is simply a strip of thin sole leather from two to
+three inches wide by eight long, having little straps and buckles
+attached to hold it in position on the flexor surface of the wrist and
+forearm.
+
+[Illustration: NECESSARY ARCHERY EQUIPMENT]
+
+The bracer not only keeps the arm from injury, but makes for a clean
+release of the arrow. Anything such as a coat sleeve touching the
+bowstring when in action, diverts the arrow in its flight. On the
+sleeve of your shooting jersey you can sew a piece of leather for an
+arm guard.
+
+While one may pick up a bow and shoot a few shots without a glove or
+finger protection, he soon will be compelled to cease because of
+soreness. Doubtless the ancient yeoman, a horny-handed son of toil,
+needed no glove. But we know that even in those days a tab of leather
+was held in the hand to prevent the string from hurting. The glove
+probably is of more modern use and quite in favor among target archers.
+We have found it rather hot in hunting, so have resorted to leather
+finger tips. These are best made of pigskin or cordovan leather, which
+is horse hide. This should be about a sixteenth of an inch thick and
+cut to such a form that the tips enclose the finger on the palmar
+surface up to the second joint and leave an oval opening over the
+knuckle and upper part of the finger nail. The best way to make them is
+to mould a piece of paper about each of the first three fingers on the
+right hand, gathering the paper on the back and crimping it with the
+thumb nail to show where to cut the pattern. Lay the paper out flat and
+cut it approximately according to the illustrated form.
+
+Transferring these outlines to the leather, cut three pieces
+accordingly, soak them in water and sew them. This stitching is best
+done by previously punching holes along the edges with a fine awl and
+sewing an overcast stitch of waxed linen thread which, having reached
+the end, returns backward on its course through the same holes. This
+makes a criss-cross effect which is strong and pleasing to the eye.
+
+The ends of the finger cots should be sewed closed, protecting the
+fingers from injury and keeping out dirt. While the leather is still
+soft and damp, place the tips on the fingers and press them home. At
+the same time flex them strongly at the joints and try to keep them
+bent there. Such angulation helps not only in holding the bowstring,
+but keeps the tip from coming off under pressure. When dry, these
+leather stalls should be numbered according to the finger to which they
+belong, coated lightly with thin glue on the inside and waxed on the
+outer surface. Then they are ready for use.
+
+An archer should have two sets of tips so that, should misfortune
+befall him and he loses one, he is not altogether undone. When not in
+use keep them in your pocket or strung on the strap of your bracer. In
+by-gone days they were sewed to straps which fastened to a wrist belt,
+thus were more secure from loss, but more cumbersome.
+
+From time to time oil your tips and always keep them from being
+roughened or scratched. With a small amount of glue in the tip one has
+only to moisten his fingers in his mouth and the leather stall will
+stick on firmly. We have also used lead plaster of the pharmacopoeia
+for the same adhesive purpose.
+
+In the absence of pockets in ancient days, the archer carried his extra
+equipment in a wallet slung at his waist. Even now it seems a handy
+thing to have a deerskin wallet six by eight inches, by an inch or more
+deep. I frequently carry my tips, extra string, wax, file wrapped in a
+cloth, and a bit of lunch, in such a receptacle.
+
+With his bow, his quiver, a wallet, our modern archer is ready and
+could step into Sherwood Forest feeling quite at home.
+
+
+
+
+VIII
+
+
+HOW TO SHOOT
+
+
+First, brace your bow. To do this properly, grasp it at the handle with
+your right hand, the upper horn upward and the back toward you. Place
+the lower horn at the instep of your right foot, and the base of your
+left palm against the back of the bow, near the top below the loop of
+the string. Holding your left arm stiff and toward your left side, your
+right elbow fixed on your hip, pull up on the handle by twisting your
+body so that the bow is sprung away from you. The string is now
+relaxed, and the fingers of the left hand push it upward till it slips
+in the nock.
+
+Don't try to force the string, and don't get your fingers caught
+beneath it. Do most of the work with the right hand pulling against the
+rigid left arm.
+
+The proper distance between the bow and the string at the handle is six
+inches. This is ordinarily measured by setting the fist on the handle
+and the thumb sticking upright, where it should touch the string. This
+is the ancient fistmele, an archer's measure, also used in measuring
+lumber.
+
+Hunting bows should be strung a little less than this because of the
+prolonged strain on them. Target bows shoot cleaner when higher strung.
+
+Change your bow to your left hand and drop the arm so that the upper
+end of the bow swings across the body in a horizontal position. Draw an
+arrow from the quiver with the right hand and carry it across the bow
+till it rests on the left side at the top of the handle. Place the left
+forefinger over the shaft and keep it from slipping while you shift
+your right hand to the arrow-nock, thumb uppermost. Push the arrow
+forward, at the same time rotating it until the cock feather, or that
+perpendicular to the nock, is away from the bow. As the feathers pass
+over the string and the thumb still rests on the nock, slip the fingers
+beneath the string and fit it in the arrow-nock.
+
+Now turn the bow upright and remove your left forefinger from its
+position across the shaft. The arrow should rest on the knuckles
+without lateral support. Now place your fingers in position for
+shooting. The release used by the old English is the best. This
+consists in placing three fingers on the string, one above the arrow,
+two below. The string rests midway between the last joint and the tip
+of the finger. The thumb should not touch the arrow, but lie curled up
+in the palm.
+
+The release used by children consists in pinching the arrow between the
+thumb and forefinger, and is known as the primary loose. This type is
+not strong enough to draw an arrow half way on a hunting bow.
+
+Stand sidewise to your mark, with the feet eight or ten inches apart,
+at right angles to the line of shot. Straighten your body, stiffen the
+back, expand the chest, turn the head fully facing the mark, look at it
+squarely, and draw your bow across the body, extending the left arm as
+you draw the right hand toward the chin.
+
+Draw the arrow steadily, in the exact plane of your mark, so that when
+the full draw is obtained and the arrowhead touches the left hand, the
+right forefinger touches a spot on the jaw perpendicularly below the
+right eye and the right elbow is in a continuous line with the arrow.
+This point on the jaw below the eye is fixed and never varies; no
+matter how close or how far the shot, the butt of the arrow is always
+drawn to the jaw, not to the eye, nor to the ear. Thus the eye glances
+along the entire length of the shaft and keeps it in perfect line. The
+bow hand may be lowered or raised to obtain the proper elevation and
+length of flight. The left arm is held rigidly but not absolutely
+extended and locked at the elbow. A slight degree of flexion here makes
+for a good clearance of the string and adds resiliency to the shot.
+
+The arrow is released by drawing the right hand further backward at the
+same time the fingers slip off the string. This must be done so firmly,
+yet deftly, that no loss of power results, and the releasing hand does
+not draw the arrow out of line. Two great faults occur at this point:
+one is to permit the arrow to creep forward just before the release,
+and the other is to draw the hand away from the face in the act of
+releasing. Keep your fingers flexed and your hand by your jaw. All the
+fingers of the right hand must bear their proper share of work. The
+great tendency is to permit the forefinger to shirk and to put too much
+work on the ring finger.
+
+If the arrow has a tendency to fall away from the bow, tip the upper
+limb ten degrees to the right and pull more on the right forefinger,
+also start the draw with the fingers more acutely flexed, so that as
+the arrow is pinched between the first and second fingers and as they
+tend to straighten out under the pressure of the string, the arrow is
+pressed against the bow, not away from it.
+
+In grasping the bow with the left hand, it should rest comfortably in
+the palm and loosely at the beginning of the draw. The knuckle at the
+base of the thumb should be opposite the center of the bow, the hand
+set straight on the wrist. As you draw, be sure that the arrow comes up
+in a straight line with your mark, otherwise the bow will be twisted in
+the grasp and deflect the shot. Then fully drawn, set the grasp of the
+left hand without disturbing the position of the bow, make the left arm
+as rigid as an oak limb; fix the muscles of the chest; make yourself
+inflexible from head to toe. Keep your right elbow up and rivet your
+gaze upon your mark; release in a direct line backward. Everything must
+be under the greatest tension, any weakening spoils your flight.
+
+The method of aiming in game shooting consists in fixing binocular
+vision on the object to be hit, drawing the nock of the arrow beneath
+the right eye and observing that the head of the arrow is in a direct
+line with the mark by the indirect vision of the right eye. Both eyes
+are open, both see the mark, but only the right observes the arrowhead,
+the left ignores it. Your vision must be so concentrated upon one point
+that all else fades from view. Just two things exist--your mark and
+your arrowhead.
+
+At a range of sixty or eighty yards, the head of the arrow seems to
+touch the mark while aiming. This is called point blank range. At
+shorter lengths the archer must estimate the distance below the mark on
+which his arrow seems to rest in order to rise in a parabolic curve and
+strike the spot. At greater ranges he must estimate a distance above
+the mark on which he holds his arrow in order to drop it on the object
+of his shot.
+
+If his shaft flies to the left, it is because he has not drawn the nock
+beneath his right eye, or he has thrown his head out of line, or the
+string has hit his shirt sleeve or something has deflected the arrow.
+
+If it falls to the right, it is because he has made a forward, creeping
+release, or weakened in his bow arm, or in drawing to the center of the
+jaw instead of the angle beneath the eye.
+
+If the arrow rattles on the bow as it is released, or slaps it hard in
+passing, it is because it is not drawn up in true line, or because it
+fits too tightly on the string, or because the release is creeping and
+weak. Always draw fully up to the barb.
+
+If his arrows drop low and all else is right, it is because he has not
+kept his tension, or has lowered his bow arm.
+
+After the arrow is released, the archer should hold his posture a
+second, bow arm rigidly extended, drawing hand to his jaw, right elbow
+horizontal. This insures that he maintains the proper position during
+the shot. There should be no jerking, swinging, or casting motions; all
+must be done evenly and deliberately.
+
+The shaft should fly from the bowstring like a bird, without quaver or
+flutter. All depends upon a sharp resilient release.
+
+Having observed all the prerequisites of good shooting, nothing so
+insures a keen, true arrow flight as an effort of supreme tension
+during the release. The chest is held rigid in a position of moderate
+inspiration, the back muscles are set and every tendon is drawn into
+elastic strain; in fact, to be successful, the whole act should be
+characterized by the utmost vigor.
+
+To get the best instructions for shooting the bow, one should read Sir
+Roger Ascham in _Toxophilus_, and Horace Ford on _Archery._
+
+Game shooting differs from target shooting in that with the latter a
+point of aim is used, and the archer fixes his eyes upon this point
+which is perpendicular above or below the bull's-eye. The arrowhead is
+held on the point of aim, and when loosed, flies not along the line of
+vision, but describes a curve upward, descends and strikes not the
+point of aim, but the bull's-eye.
+
+The field archer should learn to estimate distances correctly by eye.
+He should practice pacing measured lengths, so that he can tell how
+many yards any object may be from him.
+
+In hunting he should make a mental note of this before he shoots. In
+fact we nearly always call the number of yards before we loose the
+arrow.
+
+Where a strong cross-wind exists, a certain amount of windage is
+allowed. But up to sixty yards the lateral deflexion from wind is
+negligible; past this it may amount to three or four feet.
+
+In clout shooting and target practice, one must take wind into
+consideration. In hunting we only consider it when approaching game, as
+a carrier of scent, because our hunting ranges are well under a hundred
+yards and our heavy hunting shafts tack into the wind with little
+lateral drift.
+
+
+[Illustration: AN ARCHER'S MEASURE, A FISTMELE]
+
+
+[Illustration: THE ENGLISH METHOD OF DRAWING THE ARROW]
+
+
+[Illustration: NOCKING THE SHAFT ON THE STRING]
+
+
+[Illustration: THE LONG BOW FULL DRAWN]
+
+
+No matter how much a man may shoot, he is forever struggling with his
+technique. I remember getting a letter from an old archer who had shot
+the bow for more than fifty years. He was past seventy and had to
+resort to a thirty-five pound weapon. He complained that his release
+was faulty, but he felt that with a little more practice he could
+perfect his loose and make a perfect shot. Since writing he has entered
+the Happy Hunting Grounds, still a trifle off in form.
+
+Even a sylvan archer needs to practice form at the targets. He should
+study the game from its scientific principles as formulated by Horace
+Ford, the greatest target shot ever known.
+
+The point-of-aim system and target practice improve one's hunting.
+Hunting, on the other hand, spoils one's target work. The use of heavy
+bows so accustoms the muscles to gross reactions that they fail to
+adjust themselves to the finer requirements of light bows and to the
+precise technique of the target range.
+
+The field archer gets his practice by going out in the open and
+shooting at marks of any sort, at all distances, from five to two
+hundred yards. A bush, a stray piece of paper, a flower, a shadow on
+the grass, all are objects for his shafts.
+
+The open heath, shaded forest, hills and dales, all make good grounds.
+As he comes over a knoll a bush on the farther side represents a deer,
+he shoots instantly. He must learn to run, to stop short and shoot,
+fresh or weary he must be able to draw his bow and discharge one arrow
+after another. With the bow unstrung walking along the trail, often we
+have stopped at the word of command, strung the bow, drawn an arrow
+from the quiver, nocked it, and discharged it within the space of five
+seconds. Deliberation, however, is much more desirable.
+
+Let several archers go into the fields together and roam over the land,
+aiming at various marks; it makes for robust and accurate game
+shooting.
+
+Shooting an exact line is much easier than getting the exact length.
+For this reason it is easier to split the willow wand at sixty or
+eighty yards than it seems.
+
+Often we have tried this feat to amuse ourselves or our friends, and
+seldom more than six arrows are needed to strike such a lath or stick
+at this distance. Hitting objects tossed in the air is not so difficult
+either. A small tin can or box thrown fifteen or twenty feet upward at
+a distance of ten or fifteen yards can be hit nearly every time,
+especially if the archer waits until it just reaches the apex of its
+course and shoots when it is practically stationary.
+
+Shooting at swinging objects helps to train one in leading running or
+flying game.
+
+Turtle shooting, that form in which the arrow is discharged directly
+upward and is supposed to drop on the mark, is difficult and attended
+with few hits, but it trains one in estimating wind drift.
+
+An archer should also learn the elevation or trajectory at which his
+arrows fly at various distances. Shooting in the woods over hanging
+limbs may interfere with a good shot. In this case the archer can kneel
+and thus lower his flight to avoid interception.
+
+In kneeling it seems that the right knee should be on the ground, while
+the left foot is forward. This is a natural pose to assume during
+walking, and the left thigh should be held out of the way of the
+bow-string. When not in use, but braced, the bow should be carried in
+the left hand, the string upward, the tip pointing forward. It never
+should be swung about like a club nor shouldered like a gun.
+
+Shooting from horseback is not impossible, but it must be done off the
+left side of the horse, and a certain amount of practice is necessary
+for the horse as well as for the archer.
+
+It is surprising how accurately one can shoot at night. Even the
+dimmest outline will serve the bowman, and his shaft has an uncanny way
+of finding the mark.
+
+When it comes to missing the mark, that is the subject for a sad story.
+It takes an inveterate optimist to stand the moral strain of persistent
+missing. In fact, it is this that spoils the archery career of many a
+tyro--he gives up in despair. It looks so easy, but really is so
+difficult to hit the mark. But do not be cast down, keep eternally at
+practice, and ultimately you will be rewarded. Nothing stands a man in
+such good stead in this matter as to have started shooting in his
+youth.
+
+And do not imagine that we are infallible in our shooting. Some of the
+most humiliating moments of our lives have come through poor shooting.
+Just when we wanted to do our best, before an expectant gathering, we
+have done our most stupid missing. But even this has its compensations
+and inures us to defeat.
+
+It is a striking fact that we shoot better when confronted by the game
+itself. Under actual hunting conditions you will hit closer to your
+point than on the target field.
+
+Study every move for clean, accurate shooting, and analyze your
+failures so that you can correct your faults. Extreme care and utmost
+effort will be rewarded by greater accuracy.
+
+Other things being equal, it is the man who shoots with his heart in
+his bow that hits the mark.
+
+
+
+
+IX
+
+
+THE PRINCIPLES OF HUNTING
+
+
+In the early dawn of life man took up weapons against the beasts about
+him. With club, ax, spear, knife, and sling he protected himself or
+sought his game. To strike at a distance, he devised the bow. With the
+implements of the chase he has won his way in the world.
+
+Today there is no need to battle with the beasts of prey and little
+necessity to kill wild animals for food; but still the hunting instinct
+persists. The love of the chase still thrills us and all the misty past
+echoes with the hunter's call.
+
+In the joy of hunting is intimately woven the love of the great
+outdoors. The beauty of woods, valleys, mountains, and skies feeds the
+soul of the sportsman where the quest of game only whets his appetite.
+
+After all, it is not the killing that brings satisfaction, it is the
+contest of skill and cunning. The true hunter counts his achievement in
+proportion to the effort involved and the fairness of the sport.
+
+With the rapid development of firearms, hunting tends to lose its
+sporting quality. The killing of game is becoming too easy; there is
+little triumph and less glory than in the days of yore. Game
+preservation demands a limitation of armament. We should do well to
+abandon the more powerful and accurate implements of destruction, and
+revert to the bow.
+
+Here we have a weapon of beauty and romance. He who shoots with a bow,
+puts his life's energy into it. The force behind the flying shaft must
+be placed there by the archer. At the moment of greatest strain he must
+draw every sinew to the utmost; his hand must be steady; his nerves
+under absolute control; his eye keen and clear. In the hunt he pits his
+well-trained skill against the instinctive cunning of his quarry. By
+the most adroit cleverness, he must approach within striking distance,
+and when he speeds his low whispering shaft and strikes his game, he
+has won by the strength of arm and nerve. It is a noble sport.
+
+However, not all temperaments are suited to archery. There must be
+something within the deeper memories of his inheritance to which the
+bow appeals. A mere passing fancy will not suffice to make him an
+archer. It is the unusual person who will overcome the early
+difficulties and persevere with the bow through love of it.
+
+The real archer when he goes afield enters a land of subtle delight.
+The dew glistens on the leaves, the thrush sings in the bush, the soft
+wind blows, and all nature welcomes him as she has the hunter since the
+world began. With his bow in his hand, his arrows softly rustling in
+the quiver, a horn at his back, and a hound at his heels, what more can
+a man want in life?
+
+In America our hearts have heard the low whistle of the flying arrow
+and the sweet hum of the bowstring singing in the book, _The Witchery
+of Archery_ by Maurice Thompson. To Will and Maurice Thompson we owe a
+debt of gratitude hard to pay. The tale of their sylvan exploits in the
+everglades of Florida has a charm that borders on the fay. We who shoot
+the bow today are children of their fantasy, offspring of their magic.
+As the parents of American archery, we offer them homage and honor.
+
+Ernest Thompson Seton is another patron of archery to whom all who have
+read _Two Little Savages_ must be eternally grateful. Not only has he
+given us a reviving touch of the outdoors, but he puts the bow and
+arrow in its true setting, a background of nature.
+
+When Arthur Young, Will Compton, and I began hunting with the bow, we
+wrote Will Thompson to join us. Because he is such a commanding figure
+in the history of our craft, I think it proper to quote from one of his
+letters:
+
+"MY DEAR DR. POPE:
+
+"The _Sunset Magazine_ containing your charming account of Ishi and
+your hunting adventures, and the bunch of photographs of the transfixed
+deer, quail, and rabbits came duly, and are mine, now, tomorrow, and
+for life. You were very fortunate to have won your archery triumphs
+where you could photograph them. I would give much indeed if I could
+have photos of the scenes of my brother's and my successes in the
+somber and game-thronged wilds of the gloomy Okefinokee Swamp. I think
+I sent you long ago the two numbers of _Forest and Stream_ in which the
+history of that most wonderful of all my outings appeared. If I did not
+do so I will loan you the only copy I have. Let me know.
+
+"I am glad, so glad, that you young athletic men are following the wild
+trails armed with the most romantic weapon man ever fashioned, and I
+would give almost any precious thing I hold to fare with you once to
+the game land of your choice, and to watch and wait by a slender trail
+while you and your young, strong comrades stole through the secret
+haunts of the wild things, and to listen to the faint footfalls of the
+coming deer, roused by your entrance into their secret lairs. To see
+the soft and devious approach of the wary thing; to see the lifted
+light head turned sharply back toward the evil that roused it from its
+bed of ferns; to feel the strong bow tightening in my hand as the thin,
+hard string comes back; to feel the leap of the loosened cord, the jar
+of the bow, and see the long streak of the going shaft, and hear the
+almost sickening 'chuck' of the stabbing arrow. No one can know how I
+have loved the woods, the streams, the trails of the wild, the ways of
+the things of slender limbs, of fine nose, of great eager ears, of mild
+wary eyes, and of vague and half-revealed forms and colors. I have been
+their friend and mortal enemy. I have so loved them that I longed to
+kill them. But I gave them far more than a fair chance.
+
+"How many I have missed to one I have killed! How often the fierce
+arrow hissed its threat close by the wide ears! How often the puff of
+lifted feathers has marked the innocuous passage of my very best arrow!
+How often the roar of wings has replied to the 'chuck' of my
+steel-head shaft as it stabbed the tree branch under the grouse's feet!
+_Oh, le bon temps, que de siècle de fer_.
+
+"Let me know whether I sent you _Deep in Okefinokee Swamp_. I enclose
+you a little poem published long ago in _Forest and Stream_ and picked
+up by the _Literary Digest_ and other periodicals. You will, I think,
+feel the love of the bow, and the outdoors, as well as the great cry
+for the lost brother running through the long sob that pervades it.
+
+"Send me anything you publish, for I know I should be pleased. Love to
+you and a handgrasp to your comrade archers.
+
+"WILL THOMPSON."
+
+
+After the Civil War, where both youths fought in the Confederate Army
+and Maurice was wounded, they returned to their Southern home, broken
+in health, reduced in circumstances, and deprived of firearms by
+Government restrictions. They turned to the bow and hunting as
+naturally as a boy turns to play. Out of their experiences we have a
+lyric of exquisite purity, _The Witchery of Archery_.
+
+As a result of the interest stimulated by the recount of their
+exploits, the National Archery Association was established and held its
+first tournament at Chicago in the year 1879. It has ever since
+nurtured the sport and furthered competitive enthusiasm.
+
+Maurice later became a noted author, Will an attorney-at-law, the dean
+of American archers and a poet of remarkably happy expression. Here I
+feel at liberty to insert one of Will Thompson's verses, sent me in
+personal communications:
+
+  AN ARROW SONG
+
+  A song from green Floridian vales I heard,
+  Soft as the sea-moan when the waves are slow;
+  Sweeter than melody of brook or bird,
+  Keener than any winds that breathe or blow;
+  A magic music out of memory stirred,
+  A strain that charms my heart to overflow
+  With such vast yearning that my eyes are blurred.
+  Oh, song of dreams, that I no more shall know!
+  Bewildering carol without spoken word!
+  Faint as a stream's voice murmuring under snow,
+  Sad as a love forevermore deferred,
+  Song of the arrow from the Master's bow,
+  Sung in Floridian vales long, long ago.
+
+  WILL H. THOMPSON.
+
+  _A memory of my brother Maurice._
+
+The Thompsons devoted much of their bow shooting to birds. Not only did
+they hunt, but they studied the abundant avian life of the Florida
+coast.
+
+An archer must always, perforce, study animate nature and learn its
+ways before he can capture it. In our early training with Ishi, the
+Indian, he taught us to look before he taught us to shoot. "Little bit
+walk, too much look," was his motto. The roving eye and the light step
+are the signs of the forest voyageur.
+
+The ideal way for an archer to travel is to carry on his shoulders a
+knapsack containing a light sleeping bag and enough food to last him a
+week. With me this means coffee, tea, sugar, canned milk, dried fruit,
+rice, cornmeal, flour and baking powder mixture, a little bacon,
+butter, and seasoning. This will weigh less than ten pounds. With other
+minor appurtenances in the ditty bag, including an arrow-repairing kit,
+one's burden is less than twenty pounds, an easy load.
+
+If you have a dog, make him carry his own dry meal in little
+saddle-bags on his back, as Dan Beard suggests. Then, with two dozen
+arrows in your quiver, and your bow, the open trail lies ahead. There
+is always meat to be had for the shooting. The camp fire and your dog
+are companions at night, and at dawn all the world rolls out before you
+as you go. It is a happy life!
+
+When Ishi started to shoot with me, one bowman after another appeared
+on the scene to join us. Among the first came Will Compton, a man of
+mature years and many experiences. Brought up on the plains, he learned
+to shoot the bow with the Sioux Indians. As a boy of fourteen he shot
+his first deer with an arrow. From that time on, deer, elk, antelope,
+birds of all sorts, and even buffalo fell before this primitive weapon.
+He later hunted with the gun until the very ease of killing turned him
+against it. So when he came to us, he was a seasoned archer. Upon a
+visit to a Japanese archery gallery in the Panama-Pacific Exposition he
+met for the first time Arthur Young, also an expert hunter with the
+gun. A friendship sprang up between them, and Compton taught Young to
+shoot the bow.
+
+Compton had worked in the shop of Barnes, the bowmaker of Forest Grove,
+Oregon, and later he went into the Cascade Mountains and cut yew staves
+with an idea of selling them to the English bowyers. The Great War of
+1914 prevented this, and so we had an unlimited supply of yew wood for
+use.
+
+We three gravitated together and shot with Ishi until his last sickness
+and departure. Then our serious work began. We found it not only a
+delightful way of hunting, but a trio makes success more certain in the
+field.
+
+In California there is an abundance of game; small animals exist
+everywhere and there is no better training than to stalk the wary
+ground squirrel or the alert cottontail. These every archer should
+school himself to hit before he ventures after larger beasts.
+
+Infinite patience and practice are needed to make a hunter. He must
+earn his right to take life by the painful effort of constant shooting.
+
+We shot together, and many are the bags of game we filled. We
+discovered in the humble ground squirrel a delectable morsel more
+palatable than chicken; re-discovered it, we may say, because the
+Indian knew it first. In killing these little pests we take to the open
+fields, approach a burrow by creeping up a gully or dip in the land,
+rise up and shoot at such distances as we can. I recall one day when
+Young and I got twenty-four squirrels with the bow. Upon another
+occasion Young by himself secured seventeen in one morning; the last
+five were killed with five successive arrows, the last squirrel being
+forty-two paces away.
+
+Rabbits are best hunted in company. Here the startled rodent skips
+briskly off, down his accustomed run, only to meet another archer
+standing motionless, ready with his arrow.
+
+It seems legitimate with this rudimentary weapon to shoot animals on
+the stand, or set, a sporting permit not granted to the devotee of the
+shotgun, who has a hundred chances to our one.
+
+We found from the very first that the arrow was more humane than the
+gun. Counting all hunters, for every animal brought home with the gun,
+whether duck, quail, or deer, at least two are hit and die in pain in
+the brush.
+
+Just to illustrate this, Mr. Young reported to me the results of his
+shooting with a small rifle at ground squirrels. So expert is he that
+to hit a squirrel in any spot but the head is quite unusual. In one
+day's shooting between himself and his young son, they hit thirty-six
+animals, sixteen of these escaped and disappeared down their burrows,
+there to die later of their wounds.
+
+
+[Illustration: THE PATRON SAINTS OF AMERICAN ARCHERY, WILL AND MAURICE
+THOMPSON, AS THEY APPEARED IN 1878]
+
+
+With the arrow it is different. Not only is the destructive power as
+great as a small bullet, but the shaft holds the animal so that it
+cannot escape. Practically none are lost in our hunts. A strange
+phenomenon is seen in larger animals; they are easier to kill with an
+arrow than small ones. A shot in either the chest or abdominal cavity
+of a deer is invariably fatal in a few minutes; while a rabbit may
+carry an arrow off until the obstructing undergrowth checks his flight.
+It seems that their vital areas and blood vessels being smaller, are
+less readily injured by the missile. A bullet can crash into the brain
+of an animal, tear out a mass of tissue and generally shatter his
+structure, but cause little bleeding. An arrow wound is clean-cut and
+the hemorrhage is tremendous, but if not immediately fatal, it heals
+readily and does little harm. The pain is no greater with the arrow
+than with the bullet.
+
+Our hunting of squirrel and rabbits was merely preparatory to the
+taking of larger game; but even on our more pretentious expeditions, we
+fill the vacant hours with lesser shooting and fill the camp kettle
+with sweet tidbits.
+
+Many a quail, partridge, sage hen, or grouse has flown from the heather
+into our bag transfixed by a feathered shaft. Both Compton and Young
+have shot ducks and geese, some on the wing. But we cannot compete with
+the experiences of Maurice Thompson who, shooting ninety-eight arrows,
+landed sixteen ducks on the wing.
+
+Some amusing incidents have occurred in bird shooting. We consider the
+bluejay a legitimate mark any day; he is a rascal of the deepest dye,
+so we always shoot at him. Compton once tried one of his long shots at
+a jay on the ground nearly eighty yards off. His line was good, but his
+shot fell short. The arrow skidded and struck the bird in the tail just
+as he left the ground for flight. The two rose together and sailed off
+into space, like an aeroplane, with a preposterously long rudder, the
+arrow out behind. They slowly wheeled in a circle a hundred yards in
+diameter when the bird, nearing the archer, fell exhausted at his feet.
+Compton picked up the jay, drew the arrow from the shallow skin wound
+above his tail, and tossed him in the air. He disappeared with a volley
+of expletives.
+
+With an arrow it is also possible to shoot fish. Many wise old trout,
+incurious and contented, deep in the shadowed pool, have been coaxed to
+the frying pan through the archer's skill. Well I recall once, how
+shooting fish not only brought us meat, but changed our luck. Young and
+I were on a bear hunt. It had been a long, weary and unsuccessful quest
+of the elusive beast. Bears seemed to have become extinct, so we took
+to shooting trout in a quiet little meadow stream. Having buried an
+arrow in the far bank, with a short run and a leap Young cleared the
+brook and landed on the greensward beyond. The succulent turf slipped
+beneath his feet and, like an acrobat, the archer turned a back
+somersault into the cold mountain water. Bow, clattering arrows,
+camera, field glasses and man, all sank beneath the limpid surface.
+With a shout of laughter he clambered to the bank, his faithful bow
+still in his hand, his quiver empty of arrows, but full of water. After
+a hasty salvage of all damaged goods, we journeyed along, no worse for
+the wetting. But immediately we began to see bear signs and ultimately
+got our bruin. Young later said that if he had known the change of luck
+that went with a good ducking, he would have tried it sooner.
+
+We have often been asked if we do not poison our arrow points. Most
+people seem to have the idea that an arrow is too impotent to cause
+death; they conceive it a refined sort of torture and have no
+conception of its destructive nature.
+
+It is true that we thought at first of putting poison on our arrows
+intended for lions, and we did coat some broad-heads with mucilage and
+powdered strychnine, but we never used them. My physiologic experiments
+with curare, the South American arrow poison, aconitin, the Japanese
+Ainu poison, and buffogen, the Central American poison, had convinced
+me that strychnine was more deadly. It would not harm the meat in the
+dilution obtained in the blood, and it was cheap and effective.
+
+Buffogen is obtained by the natives by taking the tropical toad, Buffo
+Nigra, enclosing it in a segment of bamboo, heating this over a slow
+fire and gathering the exuded juice of the dessicated batrachian. It is
+a very powerful substance, having an action similar to that of
+adrenalin and strychnine.
+
+Salamandrine, an extract obtained from the macerated skin of the common
+red water-dog, is also violently toxic.
+
+But we had a disgust for these things. We soon learned, moreover, that
+our arrows were sufficient without these adjuncts, and we deemed it
+unsportsmanlike to consider them. Therefore, we abandoned the idea.
+
+Ishi knew of the employment of these killing substances, but he did not
+use them. In his tribe they made a poison by teasing a rattlesnake and
+having it strike a piece of deer's liver. This was later buried in the
+ground until it rotted, and the arrow points were smeared with this
+revolting material. It was a combination of crotalin venom and ptomaine
+poisons, a very deadly mess.
+
+We much prefer the bright, clean knife-blade of our broad-heads to any
+other missile.
+
+The principles involved in seeking game with the bow and arrow are
+those of the still hunt, only more refined.
+
+An archer's striking distance extends from ten to one hundred yards.
+For small animals it lies between ten and forty; for large game from
+forty to eighty or a hundred. The distance at which most small game
+flush varies with the country in which they live, the nature of their
+enemies, and the prevalence of hunters. Quail and rabbits usually will
+permit a man to approach them within twenty or thirty yards. This they
+have learned is a safe distance for a fox or wildcat who must hurl
+himself at them. It is quite a fair distance for any man with any
+weapon, particularly the bow.
+
+Most small game, especially rabbits, have sufficient curiosity to stand
+after their first startled retreat. Beneath a bush or clump of weeds
+they squat and watch on the _qui vive_. The arrow may find them there
+when it strikes, but often the very flash of its departure and the
+quick movement of the hand send the little beastie flying to his cover.
+Here two sportsmen working together succeed better; one attracts the
+rabbit's attention, the other shoots the shot.
+
+
+[Illustration: SHOOTING BRUSH RABBITS]
+
+
+[Illustration: ARCHERS IN AMBUSH]
+
+
+[Illustration: ISHI RIDING A HORSE FOR THE FIRST TIME]
+
+
+The marmot or woodchuck, is an impudent and cautious animal and he is a
+difficult mark for a bowman's aim. But nothing has more comic
+situations than an afternoon spent in a ground-hog village. After an
+incontinent scuttle to his burrow, an old warrior backs into his hole,
+then brazenly lifts his head and fastens his glittering eye upon you.
+The contest of quickness then begins; the archer and the marmot play
+shoot and dodge until one after the other all the arrows are exhausted
+or a hit is registered. The ground-hog never quits. I can recall one
+strenuous noon hour in an outcropping of rock where, between shattered
+arrows, precipitous chasing of transfixed old warriors, defiant
+whistlers on all sides, we piled up nearly a dozen victims.
+
+Quail hunting requires careful shooting, but it is good training for
+the bowman. A sentinel cock, sitting on a low limb, warns his covey of
+our approach, but he himself makes a gallant mark for the archer. I saw
+Compton spit such a bird on his arrow at fifty yards, while a confused
+scurrying flock made easy shooting for two hunters. I am ashamed to say
+that we have often taken advantage of the evening roosting of these
+birds in trees to secure a supper for ourselves.
+
+But the archer must exercise caution in this team work in the brush. He
+should never forget that an arrow will kill a man as readily as it does
+an animal and that one should always consider where his shot ultimately
+will land, both for the purpose of finding his shaft and avoiding
+accidents. Arrows have a great habit of glancing. Once when hunting
+quail in a patch of willow in a dry wash, Compton shot at a bird on a
+branch, missed it, and at the same instant Young, who was on the
+opposite side of the thicket, heard a thwack at his right and turned to
+find a broad-head arrow buried up to the barbs in a willow limb just
+the height of the heart. It gave us all pause for thought. Look before
+you shoot!
+
+While small game may be taken by tactics of moderate cunning, larger
+and more wary animals must be hunted by artful measures. Deer, still
+abundant in our land, and properly safeguarded by game laws, test the
+woodsman's skill to the utmost. To learn the art of finding deer, or
+successful approach and ultimate capture, one must study life in the
+open. Let him read the work of Van Dyke on still-hunting [1]
+[Footnote 1: _The Still-hunter_, by Van Dyke. The Macmillan Co.]
+to gain some idea of the many problems entailed.
+
+In our country we have the Columbia black tail deer. Of course, only
+bucks should be shot; as an old forest ranger said to me, "Does ain't
+deer." And no one but a starving man would shoot a fawn. Here bucks are
+hunted only in the fall, just as they shed their velvet and before the
+rutting season. At this time they keep pretty quiet in the brush or
+seek the higher lookout points on mountain ridges. They browse mostly
+at night and are to be met wandering to water or back to their beds.
+The older ones lie very quietly and seldom move far from their cover.
+Sometimes in the heat of the day they stir about or go to drink. The
+younger bucks are more audacious and seem to feel that their wisdom and
+strength can carry them anywhere. For this reason a two-year-old or
+forked horn is much more frequently brought down.
+
+It is interesting to note that even in this day of civilization and the
+extinction of wild life, deer are to be found within a radius of twenty
+miles from our largest cities in California. We, however, invariably
+journey by rail or motor car from fifty to three hundred miles to do
+most of our hunting. We seek those regions that are most primeval. Here
+game is largely in an undisturbed condition. From some station or
+outpost we pack with horses into the foothills or higher levels of the
+Coast Range or Sierra Nevada Mountains. Having made camp in a sheltered
+spot, we hunt on foot over the adjacent country.
+
+Just at dawn and at sunset are the favorite times for finding deer.
+
+The hunters rise from their sleeping bags, make a hasty meal of coffee
+and cakes, and long before the light of dawn sweeps the eastern sky,
+they must be on the trail. Silently and alert they enter the land of
+suspected deer. Taking advantage of every bit of cover, traveling into
+the wind where possible, looking at every shadow, every spot of moving
+color, they advance. Where trails exist they follow these, or if the
+ground be carpeted with soft pine needles, they flit between the deeper
+shades of the forest, watchful, and hearing every woodland sound.
+
+Often the crashing bound of a deer through the brush proves that
+cautious though the archer may be, more cautious is the deer. Or having
+seen him first, the archer crouches, advances to a favorable spot,
+gauges the distance, clears his eye, and nerves himself for a supreme
+effort. He draws his sturdy bow till the sharpened barb pricks his
+finger and bids him loose--a hit, a leap, a clattering flight. Watching
+and immovable, the archer listens with straining ears. He must not
+stir, he must not follow; later he can trail the quarry. Give the
+wounded deer time to lie down and die, then find him.
+
+It is a surprising experience to see animals stand and let arrows fall
+about them without fear. An archer has special privileges because he
+uses nature's tools.
+
+The whizzing missile is no more than a passing bird to the beast. What
+hurt can that bring? The quiet man is only an interesting object on the
+landscape, there is no noise to cause alarm. Most animals are ruled by
+curiosity till fright takes control. But some are less curious than
+others, notably the turkey. There is a story among sportsmen that
+describes this in the Indian's speech. "Deer see Injun. Deer say, 'I
+see Injun; no, him stump; no, him Injun; no, maybe stump.' Injun shoot.
+Turkey see Injun; he say, 'I see Injun.' He go!"
+
+The use of dogs in deer hunting should be restricted to trailing
+wounded animals. Here a little mongrel, if properly trained, serves
+better than a blooded breed. No dog should be permitted to run deer,
+especially if wounded. It is only the dog's nose we need, not his legs.
+An ideal canine for an archer would be one having the olfactory organs
+of a hound and the reasoning capacity of a college professor. With him
+one could trail animals, yet not flush them; perceive the imminence of
+game, yet not startle it; run coyotes, wolves, cougars, and bear, yet
+never confuse their scent nor abandon the quest of one for that of
+another. But as it is, no dog seems capable of doing all things, so we
+need specialists. A good bear and lion dog should never taste deer meat
+nor follow his tracks.
+
+
+[Illustration: A REST AT NOON]
+
+
+[Illustration: A LYNX THAT MET AN ARCHER]
+
+
+[Illustration: THE CHIEF LOOKING OVER GOOD DEER COUNTRY]
+
+
+A good coon dog should stick to coons and let rabbits alone. And the
+sort of dog an archer needs for deer is one that can point them, yet
+will not follow one unless it is wounded.
+
+Every good dog will come to the ringing note of the horn.
+
+And after all, there lies the soul of the sport. The fragrance of the
+earth, the deep purple valleys, the wooded mountain slopes, the clean
+sweet wind, the mysterious murmur of the tree tops, all call the hunter
+forth. When he hears the horn and the baying hound his heart leaps
+within him, he grasps his good yew bow, girds his quiver on his hip,
+and enters a world of romance and adventure.
+
+
+
+
+X
+
+
+THE RACCOON, WILDCAT, FOX, COON, CAT, AND WOLF
+
+
+Of all the canny beasts, Brother Coon is the wisest, and were it not
+for his imprudence and self-assurance, he would be less frequently
+captured than the coyote, who is also a very clever gentleman. As it
+is, a raccoon hunt is a nocturnal escapade that may be enjoyed by any
+lively boy or man who happens to own a coon dog.
+
+Now a coon dog is any sort of a dog that has a sporting instinct and a
+large propensity for combat. We have, of course, that product of
+culture and breeding, the coon hound, an offshoot from the English fox
+hound. This dog is a marvel in his own sphere.
+
+Although we have not devoted a great deal of time to coon hunting, one
+or another of our group has counted the scalps of quite a number of
+_Procyon lotor_. Having been accepted as a companion of one or two or
+more ambitious and enthusiastic dogs, we start out at dusk to hunt the
+creek bottoms for coons. Provided with bows, blunt arrows, and a
+lantern, we unleash the dogs, and the fun begins.
+
+One must be prepared to scramble through blackberry vines, nettles,
+tangled swamps, and to climb trees. The dogs busy themselves sniffing
+and working through the underbrush, crossing the creek back and forth,
+investigating old hollow trees, displaying signs of exaggerated
+interest and industry.
+
+Suddenly there is a change in their vocal expression. Heretofore the
+short, snappy bark has spoken only of anticipation and eagerness; now
+there comes the instinctive yelp of the questing beast, the hound on
+the scent. It bursts from them like a wail from the distant past. As if
+shot, they are off in a bunch. A clatter of sounds, scratching,
+rustling, and scrambling, we hear them tearing through the brush. We
+follow, but are soon outdistanced. Down the creek bed we go, splash
+through mud, clamber over logs, stop, listen, and hear them baying,
+afar off. Their voices rise in a chorus, some are high-pitched,
+incessant yelps, some are deep-voiced, bell-like tones. We know they
+have him treed and, breathless, we push forward, arriving in the order
+of our physical vigor, those with the best legs and lungs coming first.
+
+High up in a tree, out on a limb, we see a shadowy form and two glowing
+orbs--that is the coon. The dogs are insistent; since they cannot
+climb, although they try, man must rout the victim out. Somebody turns
+a flashlight on the varmint. Frank Ferguson is the champion coon
+hunter; so he draws a blunt arrow from his quiver, takes quick aim and
+shoots. A dull thud tells that he has hit, but the coon does not fall.
+Another arrow whistles past, registering a miss; then a sharp click as
+the blunt point of the third arrow strikes the creature's head, a
+stifled snarl, a falling body, a rush of dogs on the ground, and all is
+over. The hounds are delighted, and we count one chicken thief the
+less.
+
+Sometimes the coon becomes the aggressor. He boldly enters our camp at
+night and purloins a savory ham or rifles the larder and eats a pound
+of butter. He fully deserves what is coming to him. I loose Teddy and
+Dixie, my two faithful hounds. The morning mist is rising from the
+stream, the tree trunks are barely visible in the early dawn, the
+grasses drip with dew.
+
+The eager dogs take up the trail and start on a run up the stream bank.
+They cross on a great fallen tree and mount the wooded hill on the
+other side where I lose them in the jungle. I run on by instinct,
+listening for their directing bark. Once in a while I catch it faintly
+in the distance. They must be mounting rapidly and too busy to bark.
+Again it is audible far off to my left and I force my tired legs to
+renewed energy, climbing higher and higher.
+
+Up I mount through the forest, alert for the telltale yelp. There it
+is, a whine and faint, stifled guttural sounds, but so indistinct and
+so obscured by the prattle of the stream and the murmuring tree tops
+that I fail to locate it. So I flounder on through vines and
+underbrush, wondering where my dogs have gone. I blow the horn and
+Dixie answers with a pathetic howl, away off to the right. I run and
+blow the horn again; again that puppy whine. Teddy doesn't answer and I
+wonder how Dixie could have been lost, though after all, he is only a
+recent graduate from the kennel and unseasoned in this world of canine
+misery and wisdom. Unexpectedly, I come upon him, looking very
+disconsolate and somewhat mauled. There is no doubt about it, he has
+rushed in where angels fear to tread. He has received a recent lesson
+in coon hunting. So I console him with a little petting and ask him
+where is Teddy. Just then I hear a subterranean gurgle and scuffle and
+rushing off to a nearby clump of trees, I find that away down under the
+ground in a hollow stump, there is a death struggle going on--Teddy and
+the coon are having it out. From the sounds I know that Ted has him by
+the throat and is waiting for the end. But he seems very weak himself.
+As I shout down the hole to encourage him, the coon, with one final
+effort, wrests himself free from the dog and comes scuttling out of the
+hole. With undignified haste I back away from the outlet and fumble a
+blunt arrow on the string, and I am just in time, for here comes one of
+the maddest and one of the sickest coons I ever saw. With a hasty shot
+back of the ear, I bowl him over and put him out of his misery. Turning
+him over with my foot to make sure he is finished, I note how desperate
+the fight must have been. His neck and brisket are a mass of mangled
+flesh and skin. Then reaching deep down in the hole I grab poor
+exhausted Teddy by the scruff of his neck, lift him out, and let him
+regain his breath in the fresh air. He certainly is a weary champion.
+The coon has bitten him viciously between the legs and along the
+abdomen. After a while we all go down to the stream and there bathe the
+wounded heroes.
+
+With the rascally old coon over my shoulder, we three wander back to
+camp in time for congratulations and wonderment of the children and the
+consolation of hot victuals.
+
+That is a typical coon hunt with us. Some are less damaging to the
+dogs, but usually this little cousin of the bears is able to give a
+good account of himself in the contest.
+
+Ferguson and his pack of fox terriers have had more experience with the
+redoubtable raccoon than the rest of us; he hunts them for their pelts.
+He is also a trapper for the market and long since has found that the
+blunt arrow shot from a light bow serves very admirably for dispatching
+the captured varmint when once trapped.
+
+The fox is more difficult to meet in the wilds. His business hours are
+also at night, but he extends them not infrequently both into the
+sunrise and twilight zones. One of the most beautiful sights I ever
+witnessed came unexpectedly while hunting deer.
+
+It was evening; dusky shadows merged all objects into a common drab.
+Two silent, graceful foxes rose over the crest of a little eminence of
+ground before me. Outlined distinctly against a red dirt bank across
+the ravine, they stood just for a moment in surprise. I drew my bow and
+instantly loosed an arrow at the foremost. It flew swift as a
+night-hawk and with a rush of wind passed his head. As is usual at
+dusk, I had overestimated the distance. It was but forty yards; I
+thought it fifty.
+
+Half-startled, but not alarmed, the two foxes fixed their gaze upon me
+a second, then gracefully, and with infinite ease, they cleared a
+three-foot bush without a run and disappeared in the gloom.
+
+But in that leap I gained all the thrill that I missed with my arrow.
+Such facile grace I never saw. Without an effort they rose, hovered an
+instant in midair, straightened their wonderful bushy tails as an
+aeroplane readjusts its flight, and soared level across the obstacle.
+One final downward curve of that beautiful counterbalance landed them
+smoothly on the distant side of the bush where, with uninterrupted
+speed, they vanished from sight. For the first time I appreciated why a
+fox has such a light, long, fluffy caudal appendage. Marvelous!
+
+
+[Illustration: MR. COON BROUGHT INTO CAMP]
+
+
+[Illustration: A PRETTY PAIR OF WINGS]
+
+
+[Illustration: JUST A LITTLE HUNT BEFORE BREAKFAST]
+
+
+[Illustration: YOUNG AND COMPTON WITH A QUAIL APIECE]
+
+
+Often at night when coming late to camp through the woods, a fox has
+emerged from the outer sphere of darkness and given a querulous little
+bark at me. Wheeling with a bright light on the head, I could have shot
+him, but then he is such a harmless little denizen of the woods that I
+hate to kill him. But after all, is he really harmless? The little
+culprit! He actually does a deal of harm, destroying birds' nests,
+eating the young, catching quail and rabbits--I don't know that we
+should spare him.
+
+With horses and hounds we have chased many foxes over the sage and
+chaparral-covered hills.
+
+The fox terrier and the black and tan are excellent dogs for this sort
+of work. These little hunters are keen for the sport and make their way
+beneath the brush where a larger dog follows with difficulty. With
+strident yelps the pack picks up the hot trail, and off they rush,
+helter skelter, through the sage and chaparral; we circle and cross
+cut, dash down the draw, traverse the open forest meadow and follow the
+furious procession into the trees.
+
+There the hard-pressed little fox makes a final spurt for a large red
+pine, leaps straight for the bare trunk, mounts like a squirrel and
+gains a rotten limb, panting with effort. As we approach he climbs
+still higher and lodges himself securely in the crotch of the tree,
+gazing furtively down at the dogs.
+
+Who ever thought that a fox could climb such a tree! It was twenty feet
+to the first foothold on a decayed branch; yet there he was, and we saw
+him do it.
+
+Sometimes when the fleeing fox has mounted a smaller tree, we have
+shaken him from his perch and let the dogs deal with him as they think
+best--for a dog must not be too often cheated of his conquest or he
+loses heart. Sometimes we have mounted the tree and slipped a noose
+over the fox's neck, brought him close, tied his wicked little jaws
+tightly together with a thong, packed him off on the horse to show him
+to the children in camp, and later given him his liberty. Or, as in the
+case of our little villain up the pine tree, we have drawn a careful
+arrow and settled his life problems with a broad-head.
+
+In winter time the trap and the blunt arrow add another fur collar to
+the coat of the feminine sybarite.
+
+The woods and plains are full of hunters. The hawk is on the wing; the
+murderous mink and weasel never cease their crimes; the bird seeks the
+slothful worm and jumping insect; the fox, cat, and wolf forever quest
+for food. And so we, hunting in the early morning light, once saw a
+flock of quail flushed long before our presence should have given them
+cause for flight. Compton and Young, arrows nocked and muscles taut,
+crept cautiously to the thicket of wild roses out of which flew the
+quail. There, stooping low, they saw the spotted legs of a lynx softly
+stalking the birds. Aiming above the legs where surely there must be a
+body, Young sped an arrow. There was a thud, a snarl, and an animal
+tore through the crackling bushes. Out from the other side bounded the
+cat, and there, not twenty yards off, he met Compton. Like a flash
+another arrow flew at him, flew through him, and down he tumbled, a
+flurry of scratching claws, torn up grasses and dust. Young's arrow,
+having been a blunt barbed head, still lodged in his chest, and as the
+lynx succumbed to death I took his picture.
+
+Lazy, sleepy cat, both lynx and wildcats, we meet not infrequently on
+our travels. Still they are ever up to mischief in spite of their
+indolent casual appearance. Often have we seen them slink out from a
+bunch of cover, cross the open hillside, and there, if within range,
+receive an archer's salute. Many times we miss them, sometimes we hit;
+but that's not the point, we are not so anxious to get them as to send
+greetings.
+
+Then, too, since Ishi taught us to do it, we have called these wary
+creatures from the thicket and sometimes got a shot.
+
+With the dogs, the story is soon told and the rôle of the bowman is
+without triumph; so for this reason, we prefer the accidental meetings
+and impromptu adventures to the more certain contact. Still when at
+night we hear the tingling call of the lynx up in the woods, we yearn
+for a willing dog and a taut bowstring.
+
+With the distant barking wail of the prairie wolf or coyote, one feels
+differently. I presume that man has become so accustomed to the dog
+that he has rather a kindly feeling toward this little brother of the
+plains, called by the Aztecs coyote, or "wild one." We know his evil
+propensities and his economic menace, but still we love him, or at
+least, look upon him much as the Indians do, as a sort of comedian
+among animals.
+
+Ishi used to tell me of his laughable experiences with coyotes. When
+coming home at night with a haunch of venison on his shoulder, a band
+of these gamins of the wilds would follow him teasing at his heels.
+Ishi would turn upon them with feigned fury and chase them back into
+the shadows or wield his bow as a short lance and jab them vigorously
+in the ribs--when he could.
+
+With him the coyote was the reincarnation of a mythical character, half
+buffoon, half magician. He was cunning, crafty, humorous, and evil, all
+in one, and no doings of the animal folk ever progressed very far
+without the entrance of the "coyote doctor" on the scene. He was the
+doer of tricks and caster of spells, but still he himself met with
+misadventure--witness how he lost his claws. Of course, he had long
+claws like the bear in the beginning, and fine silky fur. But one
+night, coming weary from hunting and cold, he crept into a hollow oak
+gall to sleep. The wind fanned the embers of the camp-fire and the dry
+grass burst into a blaze. It swept up to the sleeping coyote, where
+only his feet protruded from his hollow spherical den. Here they hung
+out for lack of room. So, of course, his claws were burned off before
+the pain wakened him. He leaped out of his nest, dashed through the
+blaze, and plunged into the creek, not in time, however, to keep his
+beautiful long hair from being singed. Even to this day he has that
+half-scorched, moth-eaten pelt, and his claws are only those of a
+coyote.
+
+When met in the open, the prairie wolf seems so weary and listless. If
+at a distance, he protests at your entrance upon his domain with a
+forlorn wail, or insolently stares at you from a ridge. He sits and
+looks or moves about dyspeptically waiting for you to go.
+
+Once I remember that we saw one sitting on his haunches a hundred and
+eighty yards away. Compton loosed an arrow at him, one of those
+whining, complaining shafts that drone through the air. The coyote
+heard it coming; he pricked up his ears, pointed his nose skyward, rose
+and limped lively to the left, turned, peered into the sky, and ran a
+short distance to the right, then loped off just in time to be missed
+by the descending arrow, which landed exactly where he sat originally.
+It was indeed a most ludicrous performance, incidentally a splendid
+shot.
+
+Just as with a rifle, the coyote simply is not there when your missile
+strikes. He doesn't seem to bestir himself greatly, but just seems to
+drag himself out of harm's way at the last moment. How often have we
+let fly at him, sometimes at a group of them, but seldom has he been
+hit. A beginner's luck seems to fool him, however. One of our neophytes
+with the bow, having had his tackle less than a month, was out riding
+in his new automobile in company with a group of friends. The bow at
+that time was his vade-mecum; he never left it home. He chanced to see
+a stray coyote near the side of the highway when, after passing it a
+hundred yards or so, he stopped his machine, grabbed his trusty weapon,
+which he had hardly learned to shoot, strung it, nocked an arrow, and
+ran back to take a shot at the animal in question. His eagerness and
+obvious incapacity so amused the gay company in the machine, that they
+cheered him on with laughter and ridicule.
+
+Undaunted, our bowman hastened back, saw the crafty beast retreating in
+a slinking gallop, drew his faithful bow, and shot at sixty yards.
+Unerringly the fatal shaft flew, struck the coyote back of the ear and
+laid him low without a quiver.
+
+Mad with unexpected triumph, our archer dragged his slain victim back
+to the car to meet the jeering company, and confounded them with his
+success. Loud were the shouts of joy; a war dance ensued to celebrate
+the great event. When done the merry party cranked up the machine and
+sped on its fragrant way, a happier and a more enlightened bevy of
+children.
+
+Thus is shown the danger of utter innocence.
+
+These chance meetings seem rather unlucky for coyotes. Frank Ferguson,
+when trapping in the foothills of the Sierras, repeatedly had his traps
+robbed by an impudent member of the wolf family. One day while making
+his regular rounds and approaching a set, he saw in the distance a
+coyote run off with the catch of his trap. Seeing that the wolf turned
+up a branch creek, Ferguson cut across the intervening neck of the
+woods to intercept him if possible. He reached the stream bottom at the
+moment the coyote came trotting past. Having a blunt arrow on the
+bowstring, he shot across the twenty-five yards of bank, and quite
+unexpectedly cracked the animal on the foreleg, breaking the bone. A
+jet of blood spurted out with astonishing force, and the brute
+staggered for a space of time. This gave Ferguson a moment to nock a
+second shaft, a broad-head, and with that accuracy known to come in
+excitement, he drove it completely through the animal's body, killing
+it instantly. When next we met after this episode, he showed me the
+bloody arrows and wolf skin as mute evidence of his skill.
+
+Ferguson was won over to archery when, as packer upon our first trip
+together, he asked Compton to show him what could be done with the bow
+in the way of accurate shooting. Compton is particularly good at long
+ranges, so he pointed out a bush about one hundred and seventy-five
+yards distant. It was about the size of a dog. Compton took unusual
+care with his shots, and dropped three successive arrows in that bush.
+When "Ferg" saw this he took the bow seriously.
+
+The timber wolf is seldom met in our clime, and so for this reason he
+has been spared the fate common to all fearsome beasts that cross the
+trail of an archer. But with that fateful hope which has foreshadowed
+and seemingly insured our subsequent achievement, I fervently wish that
+some day we may meet, wolf and bowman.
+
+In the absence of this the more austere and wicked member of the
+family, we shall continue from time to time to speed a questing arrow
+in the general direction of the furtive coyote.
+
+
+
+
+XI
+
+
+DEER HUNTING
+
+
+Deer are the most beautiful animals of the woods. Their grace, poise,
+agility, and alertness make them a lovely and inspiring sight. To see
+them feed undisturbed is wonderful; such mincing steps, such dainty
+nibbling is a lesson in culture. With wide, lustrous eyes, mobile ears
+ever listening, with moist, sensitive nostrils testing every vagrant
+odor in the air, they are the embodiment of hypersensitive
+self-preservation. And yet deer are not essentially timid animals. They
+will venture far through curiosity, and I have seen them from the
+hilltop, being run by dogs, play and trifle with their pursuers. The
+dog, hampered by brush and going only by scent, follows implicitly the
+trail. The deer runs, leaps high barriers, doubles on his tracks, stops
+to browse at a tempting bush, even waits for the dog to catch up with
+him, and leads him on in a merry chase. I feel sure that unless badly
+cornered or confused by a number of dogs or wolves, the deer does not
+often develop great fear, nor is he hard put to it in these episodes.
+Quite likely there is an element of sport in it with him.
+
+Why men should kill deer is a moot question, but it is a habit of the
+brute. For so many hundreds of years have we been at it, that we can
+hardly be expected to reform immediately. Undoubtedly, it is a sign of
+undeveloped ethnic consciousness. We are depraved animals. I must admit
+that there are quite a number of things men do that mark them as far
+below the angels, but in a way I am glad of it. The thrill and glow of
+nature is strong within us. The great primitive outer world is still
+unconquered, and there are impulses within the breast of man not yet
+measured, curbed and devitalized, which are the essential motives of
+life. Therefore, without wantonness, and without cruelty, we shall hunt
+as long as the arm has strength, the eye glistens, and the heart
+throbs.
+
+Lead on!
+
+To go deer hunting, the archer should seek a country unspoiled by
+civilization and gunpowder. It should approach as nearly as possible
+the pristine wilderness of our forefathers. The game should be
+unharried by the omnipresent and dangerous nimrod. In fact, as a matter
+of safety, an archer particularly should avoid those districts overrun
+by the gunman. The very methods employed by the bowman make him a ready
+target for the unerring, accidental bullet.
+
+Never go in company with those using firearms; never carry firearms.
+The first spoils your hunting, and the second is unnecessary and only
+gives your critic a chance to say that you used a gun to kill your
+animal, then stuck it full of arrows to take its picture.
+
+On our deer hunts we first decide upon the location, usually in some
+mountain ranch owned by a man who is willing and anxious to have us
+hunt on his grounds. The sporting proposition of shooting deer with a
+bow strikes the fancy of most men in the country. If we are unfamiliar
+with the district, the rancher can give us valuable information
+concerning the location of bucks, and this saves time. Usually he is
+our guide and packer, supplying the horses and equipment for a
+compensation, so we are welcome. Some of the intimate relations
+established on these expeditions are among the pleasantest features of
+our vacation.
+
+Having reached the hunting grounds, we make camp. Tents are pitched,
+stores unpacked and arranged, beds made and all put in order for a stay
+of days or weeks.
+
+Each archer has with him two or more bows, and anywhere from two to six
+dozen arrows. About half of these are good broad-heads and the rest are
+blunts or odd scraps to be shot away at birds on the wing, at marks, or
+some are shot in pure exhilaration across deep canyons.
+
+As a rule, there are two or three of us in the party, and we hunt
+together.
+
+Having decided what seems the best buck ground, we rise before daylight
+and, having eaten, strike out to reach the proposed spot before
+sunrise. There we spread out, approximately a bowshot apart, that is to
+say, two hundred yards. In parallel courses we traverse the country;
+one just below the ridges where one nearly always finds a game trail;
+one part way down, working through the wooded draws; and the third
+going through the timber edge where deer are likely to lurk or bed
+down.
+
+In this way we cross-cut a good deal of country, and one or the other
+is likely to come upon or rout out a buck. With great caution we
+progress very quietly, searching every bit of cover, peering at every
+fallen log, where deer often lie, standing to scrutinize every
+conspicuous twig in anticipation that it may be horns. Does, of course,
+we see in plenty. So carefully do we approach that often we have come
+up within ten yards of female deer. Once Compton sneaked up on a doe
+nursing her fawn. He crept so close that he could have thrown his hat
+on them. While he watched, the mother got restless, seemed to sense
+danger without scenting or seeing it. She moved off slowly, pulling her
+teats out of the eager fawn's mouth, gave a flip to her hind legs and
+hopped over him, then meandered leisurely to the crest of the hill. The
+little fellow, unperturbed, licked his chops, ran his tongue up his
+nose, shook his ears, and seeing mother waiting for him, trotted away
+unaware of the possible danger of man. But we do not shoot does.
+
+So we travel. Sometimes a startled deer bounds down the hillside
+leaving us chagrined and disappointed. Sometimes one tries this and is
+defeated. One evening as we returned to camp, making haste because of
+the rapidly falling night, we startled a deer that plunged down the
+steep slope before us. Instantly Compton drew to the head and shot. His
+arrow led the bounding animal by ten yards. Just as the deer reached
+cover at a distance of seventy-five yards, the arrow struck. It entered
+his flank, ranged forward and emerged at the point of the opposite
+shoulder. The deer turned and dashed into the bush. As it did so the
+protruding arrow shaft snapped; we descended and picked up the broken
+piece. Following the crashing descent of the buck down the canyon, we
+found him some two hundred yards below, crumpled up and dead against a
+madrone tree. It was a heart shot, one of the finest I ever hope to
+see. Compton is a master at the judgment of distance and the speed of
+running game.
+
+Having worked out a piece of country by the method of sub-division, we
+meet at a pre-arranged rendezvous and plan another sortie.
+
+If the sun has not risen above the peaks, we continue this method of
+combing the land until we know the time for bucks has passed. For this
+reason we work the high points first, and the lower points last, for in
+this way we take advantage of the slowly advancing illumination.
+
+Sometimes, using glasses, we pick out a buck at a considerable
+distance, either in his solitary retreat, or with a band of deer; and
+we go after him. Here we figure out where he is traveling and make a
+detour to intercept him. This is often heartbreaking work, up hill and
+down dale, but all part of the game.
+
+Young and Compton brought low a fine buck by this means on one of our
+recent hunts. Seeing a three-pointer a mile distant, we all advanced at
+a rapid pace. We reached suitable vantage ground just as the buck
+became aware of our presence. At eighty yards Young shot an arrow and
+pierced him through the chest. The deer leaped a ravine and took refuge
+in a clump of bay trees. We surrounded this cover and waited for his
+exit. Since he did not come out after due waiting, Compton cautiously
+invaded the wooded area, saw the wounded deer deep in thought; he
+finished him with a broad-head through the neck.
+
+
+[Illustration: WOODCHUCKS GALORE!]
+
+
+[Illustration: PORCUPINE QUILLS TO DECORATE A QUIVER]
+
+
+[Illustration: A FATAL ARROW AT 65 YARDS]
+
+
+[Illustration: THE CHIEF AND ART GET A BUCK AT 85 YARDS]
+
+Not having had any large experience myself in hunting deer with
+firearms, the use of the bow presented no great contrast. Mr. Young has
+often said, however, that it gave him more pleasure to shoot at a deer
+and miss it with an arrow, than to kill all the deer he ever had with a
+gun. For my part, I did not want to kill anything with a gun. It did
+not seem fair; so until I took up archery, I did not care to hunt.
+
+Therefore, the analysis of my feelings interested me considerably as we
+began to have experiences with the bow.
+
+The first deer I shot at was so far off that there was no chance to hit
+it, but I let drive just to get the sensation. My arrow sailed
+harmlessly over its back. The next I shot at was within good range, but
+my arrow only grazed its rump. And that deer did something that I never
+saw before. It sagged in the middle until its belly nearly touched the
+ground, then it gathered its seemingly weakened legs beneath it, and
+galloped off in a series of bucks. We laughed immoderately over its
+antics; in fact, some of our adventures have been most ludicrous at
+times.
+
+Once, when two of us shot at an old stag together as it raced far off
+down the trail, the two arrows dropped twenty yards ahead of it.
+Instantly the stag came to an abrupt stop, smelled first one arrow at
+one side of the trail, and the other on the opposite side, deliberated
+a moment, bolted sidewise and disappeared. What he got in his olfactory
+investigation must have been confusing. He smelled man; he smelled
+turkey feathers; and he smelled paint. What sort of animals do you
+think he imagined the arrows to be?
+
+This reminds me that Ishi always said that a white man smelled like a
+horse, and in hunting made a noise like one, but apparently he doesn't
+always have horse sense.
+
+I saw this exemplified upon one occasion. When camped in a beautiful
+little spot we were disturbed by the arrival of a party of some four
+men, five horses, and three dogs--all heavily accoutred for the chase.
+With our quiet Indian methods, we caused little excitement in the land,
+but they burst in upon us with a fury that warned all game for miles
+around.
+
+The day after their arrival, alone on a trail, I heard one of this band
+approaching; half a mile above me his noise preceded him. Down he came
+over brush and stones. I stepped quietly beside a bush and waited as I
+would for an oncoming elephant. With gun at right shoulder arms,
+knapsack and canteen rattling, spiked shoes crunching, he marched past
+me, eyes straight ahead; walking within ten yards and never saw me.
+Twenty deer must have seen him where he saw one. That night this same
+man came straggling wearily into our midst and asked the way to his
+camp. He explained that he had put a piece of paper on a tree to guide
+him, but that he could not find the tree. We asked him what luck. He
+said that there were only does in the country. Perhaps he was right,
+because that is all they shot. We found two down in the gullies after
+they had gone. For a week they hunted all over the place with horses,
+guns, and dogs, and got no legitimate game. During this same time,
+beneath their very noses, we got two fine bucks. So much for the men of
+iron.
+
+The first buck I ever landed with the bow thrilled me to such an extent
+that every detail is memorable. After a long, hard morning hunt, I was
+returning to camp alone. It was nearly noon; the sun beat down on the
+pungent dust of the trail, and all nature seemed sleepy. The air, heavy
+with the fragrance of the pines, hardly stirred.
+
+I was walking wearily along thinking of food, when suddenly my outer
+visual fields picked up the image of a deer. I stopped. There, eighty
+yards away, stood a three-year-old buck, grazing under an oak. His back
+was toward me. I crouched and sneaked nearer. My arrow was nocked on
+the string. The distance I measured carefully with my eye; it was now
+sixty-five yards. Just then the deer raised its head. I let fly an
+arrow at its neck. It flew between its horns. The deer gave a started
+toss to its head, listened a second, then dipped its crest again to
+feed. I nocked another shaft. As it raised its head again I shot. This
+arrow flew wide of the neck, but at the right elevation. The buck now
+was more startled and jumped so that it stood profile to me, looking
+and listening. I dropped upon one knee. A little rising ground and
+intervening brush partially concealed me. As I drew a third arrow from
+my quiver its barb caught in the rawhide, and I swore a soft vicious
+oath to steady my nerves. Then drawing my bow carefully, lowering my
+aim and holding like grim death, I shot a beautifully released arrow.
+It sped over the tops of the dried grass seeming to skim the ground
+like a bird, and struck the deer full and hard in the chest. It was a
+welcome thud. The beast leaped, bounded off some thirty yards,
+staggered, drew back its head and wilted in the hind legs. I had stayed
+immovable as wood. Seeing him failing, I ran swiftly forward, and
+almost on the run at forty yards I drove a second arrow through his
+heart. The deer died instantly.
+
+Conflicting emotions of compassion and exultation surged through me,
+and I felt weak, but I ran to my quarry, lifted his head on my knee and
+claimed him in the name of Robin Hood.
+
+Looking him over, it was apparent that my second shaft had hit him in
+the base of the heart, emerged through the breast and only stopped in
+its flight by striking the foreleg. The first arrow had gone completely
+through the back part of the chest, severed the aorta, and flown past
+him. There it lay, sticking deep into the ground twenty yards beyond
+the spot where he stood when shot.
+
+After the body had been cleaned and cooled in the shade of an oak, we
+packed it home in the twilight, an easy burden for a light heart. This
+is the fulfilment of the hunter's quest. It was the sweetest venison we
+ever tasted.
+
+We have had little experience in trailing deer on the snow and none in
+the use of dogs to run them. Doubtless, the latter method under some
+conditions is admirable, particularly in very brushy countries.
+
+But we have preferred the still hunt. Lying in wait at licks we have
+done so to study animal life and in conjunction with the Indian to
+learn his methods, but neither the lick nor the ambush appealed to us
+as sport. In fact, we have hunted deer more for meat than for trophies,
+and quite a number of our kills have been in a way incidental to
+hunting mountain lions or other predatory animals.
+
+Once, when on a lion trail, the dogs ran down a steep trail ahead of
+me, and there in the creek bottom they started a fine large buck. On
+each side of the path the brush was very high, and up this corridor
+dashed the buck. There was no room for him to pass, and he came upon me
+with a rush. When less than twenty yards away, I hastily drew my bow
+and drove an arrow deep into his breast. With a lateral bound he
+cleared the brushy hedge and was lost to view. The dogs had been
+trained not to follow deer; but since they saw me shoot it, they ran in
+hot pursuit. I sounded my horn and brought them back, and scolded them.
+But fearing to lose the deer, I decided to go down to the ranch house,
+a couple of miles away, and borrow Jasper and his dog, Splinters. Now
+Splinters was some sort of a mongrel fise, an insignificant-looking
+little beast that had come originally from the city and presumably was
+hopelessly civilized. Jasper, however, had recognized in him certain
+latent talents and had trained him to follow wounded deer. He paid no
+attention to any scent except that of deer blood. In an accidental
+encounter with the hind foot of a horse, Splinters had lost the sight
+of one eye and the use of one ear; but in spite of the lopsided
+progression occasioned by this disability, he was infallible with
+wounded bucks.
+
+So Jasper came, and Splinters trotted along at his heels. At the spot
+where the deer leaped off the trail, we let the dog smell a drop of
+blood. After a deliberate, unexcited investigation, he began to wander
+through the brush. Occasionally he stopped to stand on his hind legs
+and nose the chaparral above him, then wandered on. Just about this
+time I stepped on a rattlesnake, and, after a hasty change of location,
+directed my efforts toward dispatching the snake. By the time I had
+finished this worthy deed, Jasper and Splinters were lost to view; so I
+sat down and waited. After a quarter of an hour I heard a distant
+whistle.
+
+Following Jasper's signal, I descended to the creek below me, went a
+short distance up a side branch, and there were all three--Jasper,
+Splinters, and the deer. The latter had made almost a complete circle,
+half a mile in extent, and dropped in the creek, not a hundred yards
+from his starting point.
+
+My arrow had caused a most destructive wound in the lungs and great
+vessels of the chest, and it was remarkable that the animal could have
+gone so far. We were of the opinion that if my own dogs had not started
+to run him, the deer would have gone but a short distance and lain down
+where in a few minutes we could have found him dead.
+
+While, after all, the object of deer hunting is to get your deer, it
+does seem that some of our keenest delight has been when we have missed
+it. So far, we have never shot one of those massive old bucks with
+innumerable points to his antlers; they have all been adolescent or
+prospective patriarchs. But several times we have almost landed the big
+fellow.
+
+Out of the quiet purple shadow of the forest one evening there stepped
+the most stately buck I ever saw. His noble crest and carriage were
+superb. On a grassy hillside, some hundred and fifty yards away, he
+stood broadside on. With a rifle the merest tyro might have bowled him
+over. In fact, he looked just like the royal stag in the picture.
+
+Two of us were together--a little underbrush shielded us. We drew our
+bows, loosed the arrows and off they flew. The flight of an arrow is a
+beautiful thing; it is grace, harmony, and perfect geometry all in one.
+They flew, and fell short. The deer only looked at them. We nocked
+again and shot. This time we dropped them just beneath his belly. He
+jumped forward a few paces and stopped to look at us. Slowly we reached
+for a third arrow, slowly nocked and drew it, and away it went,
+whispering in the air. One grazed his withers, the other pierced him
+through the loose skin of the brisket and flew past.
+
+With an upward leap he soared away in the woods and we sent our
+blessing with him. His wound would heal readily, a mere scratch. We
+picked up our arrows and returned to camp to have bacon for supper,
+perfectly happy.
+
+An arrow wound may be trivial, as was this one, or it may be
+surprisingly deadly, as brought out by an experience of Arthur Young.
+Once when stalking deer, the animal became alarmed and started to run
+away behind a screen of scrub oak. Young, perceiving that he was about
+to lose his quarry, shot at the indistinct moving body. Thinking that
+he had missed his shot, he searched for his arrow and found that it had
+plowed up the ground and buried its head deep in the earth. When he
+picked it up, he noted that it was strangely damp, but since he could
+not explain it, he dismissed the matter from his mind.
+
+Next day, hunting over the same ground, he and Compton found the deer
+less than a hundred and fifty yards from this spot. It had run, fallen,
+bled, risen and fallen down hill, where it died of hemorrhage. Their
+inspection showed that the arrow had struck back of the shoulder, gone
+through the lungs and emerged beneath the jaw. With all this it had
+flown yards beyond, struck deeply in the earth, and was only a trifle
+damp.
+
+Upon another occasion, while hunting cougars with a hound, I came
+abruptly upon a doe and a buck in a deep ravine. It was open season and
+we needed camp meat. Gauging my distance carefully, I shot at the buck,
+striking him in the flank. For the first time in my life, I heard an
+adult deer bleat. He gave an involuntary exclamation, whirled, but
+since he knew not the location or the nature of his danger, he did not
+run.
+
+My hound was working higher up in the canyon, but he heard the bleat,
+when like a wild beast he came charging through the undergrowth and
+hurled himself with terrific force upon the startled deer, bearing him
+to the ground. There was a fierce struggle for a brief moment in which
+the buck wrenched himself free from the dog's hold upon his throat and
+with an effort lunged down the slope and eluded us. Because of the many
+deer trails and because the hound was unused to following deer, night
+fell before we could locate him.
+
+Next day we found the dead buck, but the lions had left little meat on
+his bones--in fact, it seemed that a veritable den of these animals had
+feasted on him.
+
+The striking picture in my mind today is the fierceness and the savage
+onslaught of my dog. Never did I suspect that the amiable, gentle pet
+of our fireside could turn into such an overpowering, indomitable
+killer. His assault was absolutely bloodthirsty. I've often thought how
+grateful I should be that such an animal was my friend and companion in
+the hunt and not my pursuer. How quickly the dog adjusts himself to the
+bow! At first he is afraid of the long stick. But he soon gets the idea
+and not waiting for the detonation of the gun, he accepts the hum of
+the bowstring and the whirr of the arrow as signals for action. Some
+dogs have even shown a tendency to retrieve our arrows for us, and
+nothing suits them better than that we go on foot, and by their sides
+can run with them and with our silent shafts can lay low what they
+bring to bay. In fact, it is a perfect balance of power--the hound with
+his wondrous nose, lean flanks and tireless legs; the man with his
+human reason, the horn, and his bow and arrow.
+
+We who have hunted thus, trod the forest trails, climbed the lofty
+peaks, breathed the magic air, and viewed the endless roll of mountain
+ridges, blue in the distance, have been blessed by the gods.
+
+In all, we have shot about thirty deer with the bow. The majority of
+these fell before the shafts of Will Compton, while Young and I have
+contributed in a smaller measure to the count. Despite the vague
+regrets we always feel at slaying so beautiful an animal, there is an
+exultation about bringing into camp a haunch of venison, or hanging the
+deer on the limb of a sheltering tree, there to cool near the icy
+spring. By the glow of the campfire we broil savory loin steaks, and
+when done eating, we sit in the gloaming and watch the stars come out.
+Great Orion shines in all his glory, and the Hunters' Moon rises golden
+and full through the skies.
+
+Drowsy with happiness, we nestle down in our sleeping bags, resting on
+a bed of fragrant boughs, and dream of the eternal chase.
+
+
+
+
+XII
+
+
+BEAR HUNTING
+
+
+Killing bears with the bow and arrow is a very old pastime, in fact, it
+ranks next in antiquity to killing them with a club. However, it has
+faded so far into the dim realms of the past that it seems almost
+mythical.
+
+The bear has stood for all that is dangerous and horrible for ages. No
+doubt, our ancestral experiences with the cave bears of Europe stamped
+the dread of these mighty beasts indelibly in our hearts. The American
+Indians in times gone past killed them with their primitive weapons,
+but even they have not done it lately, so it can be considered a lost
+art.
+
+The Yana's method of hunting bears has been described. Here they made
+an effort to shoot the beast in the open mouth. Ishi said that the
+blood thus choked and killed him. But after examining the bear skulls,
+it seems to me that a shot in the mouth is more likely to be fatal
+because the base of the brain is here covered with the thinnest layers
+of bone. Arrows can hardly penetrate the thick frontal bones of the
+skull, but up through the palate there would be no difficulty in
+entering the brain. At any rate, it is here that the Yana directed
+their shots. Apparently, from Ishi's description, it took quite a time
+to wear down and slay the animal.
+
+All Indians seem to have had a wholesome respect for the grizzly, the
+mighty brother of the mountains, and they gave him the right of way.
+
+The black bear is, of course, the same animal whether brown or
+cinnamon, these color variations are simply brunette, blonde and auburn
+complexions, the essential anatomical and habit characteristics are
+identical.
+
+The American black bear at one time ranged all over the United States
+and Canada. He has recently become a rare inhabitant of the eastern and
+more thickly populated districts; yet it is astonishing to hear that
+even in the year of 1920 some four hundred and sixty-five bears were
+taken in the State of Pennsylvania.
+
+In the western mountains he is to be met with quite frequently, but is
+not given to unprovoked attack, and with modern firearms an encounter
+with him is not fraught with great danger. He, or more properly, she
+will charge man with intent to kill upon certain rare occasions--when
+wounded, surprised, or when feeling that her young are in danger. But
+the bear, in company with all the other animals of the wilds, has
+learned to fear man since gunpowder was invented. Prior to this time,
+it felt the game was more equal, and seldom avoided a meeting, even
+courted it.
+
+Bears are a mixture of the curious comedy traits with cunning and
+savage ferocity. In some of their lighter moods and pilfering habits,
+they add to the gayety of life.
+
+While hunting in Wyoming one night, on coming to camp we discovered a
+young black bear robbing our larder. He had a ham bone in his jaws as
+we approached. Hastily nocking a blunt arrow on my bowstring, I let fly
+at sixty yards as he started to make his escape. I did not wish to
+kill, only admonish him. The arrow flew in a swift chiding stroke and
+smote him on his furry side with a dull thud. With a grunt and a bound,
+he dropped the bone and scampered off into the forest while the arrow
+rattled to the ground. His antics of surprise were most ludicrous. We
+sped him on his way with hilarious shouts; he never came again.
+
+Upon a different occasion with another party, where the camp was
+bothered by the midnight foraging of a bear, our guide arranged to play
+a practical joke upon a certain "tenderfoot." Unknown to the victim, he
+tied a chunk of bacon to the corner of his sleeping bag with a piece of
+bale wire. In the middle of the night the camp was awakened by a
+pandemonium as the sleeping bag, man and all disappeared down the slope
+and landed in the creek bed below, where the determined bear, hanging
+on to the bacon, dragged the protesting tenderfoot. Here he abandoned
+his noisy burden and left the scene of excitement. No doubt, this goes
+down in the annals of both families as the most dramatic and stirring
+moment of life.
+
+Bear stories of this sort tend to give one the idea that these beasts
+can be petted and made trustworthy companions. In fact, certain
+sentimental devotees of nature foster the sentiment that wild animals
+need naught but kindness and loving thoughts to become the bosom friend
+of man. Such sophists would find that they had made a fatal mistake if
+they could carry out their theories. The old feud between man and beast
+still exists and will exist until all wild life is exterminated or is
+semi-domesticated in game preserves and refuges.
+
+Even domestic cattle allowed to run wild are extremely dangerous. Their
+fear of man breeds their desperate assault when cornered.
+
+The black bear has killed and will kill men when brought to bay or
+wounded or even when he feels himself cornered.
+
+Although largely vegetarian, bear also capture and devour prey. Young
+deer, marmots, ground squirrels, sheep, and cattle are their diet. In
+certain districts great damage is done to flocks by bears that have
+become killers. In our hunts we have come across dead sheep, slain and
+partially devoured by black bears. All ranchers can tell of the
+depredations of these animals.
+
+In Oregon and the northern part of California, there are many men who
+make it their business to trap or run bears with dogs to secure their
+hides and to sell their meat to the city markets. It is a hardy sport
+and none but the most stalwart and experienced can hope to succeed at
+it. In the late autumn and early winter the bears are fat and in prime
+condition for capture.
+
+Having graduated from ground squirrels, quail and rabbits, and having
+laid low the noble deer, we who shoot the bow became presumptuous and
+wanted to kill bear with our weapons. So, learning of a certain
+admirable hunter up in Humboldt County by the name of Tom Murphy, we
+wrote to him with our proposal. He was taken with the idea of the bow
+and arrow and invited us to join him in some of his winter excursions.
+
+In November, 1918, we arrived in the little village of Blocksburg, on
+the outskirts of which was Murphy's ranch. In normal times, Tom cuts
+wood, and raises cattle and grain for the market. In the winter months
+he hunts bear for profit and recreation. In the spring after his
+planting is done he also runs coyotes with dogs and makes a good income
+on bounties.
+
+We found Murphy a quiet-spoken, intelligent man of forty-five years,
+married, and having two daughters. I was surprised to see such a
+redoubtable bear-slayer so modest and kindly. We liked him immediately.
+It is an interesting observation that all the notable hunters that have
+guided us on our trips have been rather shy, soft-spoken men who
+neither smoked nor drank.
+
+Arthur Young and I constituted the archery brigade. We brought with us
+in the line of artillery two bows and some two dozen arrows apiece. We
+also brought our musical instruments. Not only do we shoot, but in camp
+we sit by the fire at night and play sweet harmonies till bedtime.
+Young is a finished violinist, and he has an instrument so cut down and
+abbreviated that with a short violin bow he can pack it in his bed
+roll. Its sound is very much like that of a violin played with a mute.
+
+My own instrument was an Italian mandolin with its body reduced to a
+box less than three inches square. It also is carried in a blanket roll
+and is known as the camp mosquito.
+
+Young is a master at improvising second parts, double stopping, and
+obbligato accompaniments. So together we call all the sweet melodies
+out of the past and play on indefinitely by ear. In the glow of the
+camp-fire, out in the woods, this music has a peculiar plaintive appeal
+dear to our hearts.
+
+With these charms we soon won the Murphy family and Tom was eager to
+see us shoot. He had heard that we shot deer, but he was rather
+skeptical that our arrows could do much damage to bear. So one of the
+first things he did after our arrival was to drag out an old dried hide
+and hang it on a fence in the corral and asked me to shoot an arrow
+through it. It was surely a test, for the old bear had been a tough
+customer and his hide was half an inch thick and as hard as sole
+leather.
+
+But I drew up at thirty yards and let drive at the neck, the thickest
+portion. My arrow went through half its length and transfixed a paw
+that dangled behind. Tom opened his eyes and smiled. "That will do," he
+said, "if you can get into them that far, that's all you need. I'll
+take you out tomorrow morning, but I'll pack the old Winchester rifle
+just for the sake of the dogs."
+
+The dogs were Tom's real asset, and his hobby. There were five of them.
+The two best, Baldy and Button, were Kentucky coon hounds in their
+prime, probably being descendants of the English fox hound with the
+admixture of harrier and bloodhound strains. Their breed has been in
+the family for thirty years. Tom took great pride in his pack, trained
+them to run nothing but bear and mountain lions, and never let anybody
+else touch them. When not hunting they are kept fastened by a sliding
+leash to a long heavy wire. Their diet was boiled cracked wheat and
+cracklings, raw apples, and bear meat. They never tasted deer meat or
+beef. I never saw more intelligent nor better conditioned hounds.
+
+With the same stock he has hunted ever since he was a boy, and their
+lineage is more important than that of the Murphys. He has taken from
+ten to twenty bears every winter with these dogs for the past thirty
+years.
+
+We were to stay right in Tom's house, and go by horseback to the bear
+grounds next morning. We had a supper which included bear steaks from a
+previous hunt, and doughnuts fried in bear grease, which they say is
+the best possible material for this culinary process, and later we
+greased our bows with bear grease, and our shoes with a mixture of bear
+fat and rosin. So we felt ready for bear.
+
+Then we spent a delightful evening with the family before the big
+fireplace, played our soft music, and all turned in for an early start
+in the morning.
+
+At four o'clock Tom began stirring around, building the fire and
+feeding the horses. An hour later we breakfasted and were ready to
+start. Light snow had fallen in the hills and the air was chill; the
+moon was sinking in the valley mist. These early morning hours in the
+country are strange to us who live so far from nature.
+
+We mount and are off. As we go the horses see the trail that we cannot
+discern, vague forms slip past, a skunk steals off before us, an owl
+flaps noiselessly past, overhanging brush sweeps our faces, the dogs
+leashed in couples trot ahead of us like spectres in procession.
+
+Thus we journey for nearly ten miles in the darkness, going up out of
+the valley, on to the foothills, through Windy Gap, past Sheep Corral,
+over the divide, heading toward the Little Van Duzen River.
+
+
+[Illustration: TOM MURPHY WITH HIS TWO BEST DOGS, BUTTON AND BALDY,
+INDISPENSABLE IN GETTING BEARS]
+
+
+All the while the dogs amble along, sniffing here and there at obscure
+scents, now loitering to investigate a moment, now standing and looking
+off into the dark. Tom knows by their actions what they think. "That's
+a coyote's trail," he says, "they've just crossed a deer scent, but
+they won't pay much attention to that." Their demeanor is
+self-possessed and un-excited.
+
+At last, just before dawn, we arrive on a pine-covered hillside and the
+dogs become more eager. This is the bear country. They cross the canyon
+here to get to the forest of young oak trees, beyond where the autumn
+crop of acorns lies ready to fatten them for their long winter sleep.
+
+Here is a bear tree, a small pine or fir, stripped of limbs and bark,
+against which countless bears have scratched themselves.
+
+Tom looses the dogs and sends them ranging to pick up a scent. They
+take to it with eagerness, and soon we hear the boom of the hounds on a
+cold track. Tom gets interested, but shakes his head. Last night's
+snowfall and later drizzle have spoiled the ground for good tracking.
+We dismount, tie our horses and follow the general direction of the
+pack. They must be kept within earshot so that when they strike a hot
+track we can keep up with them. If there is much wind and the forest
+noises are loud, Tom will not run his dogs for fear of losing them.
+Once on the trail of a bear, they never quit, but will leave the
+country rather than give him up.
+
+Expectation, stimulated by the distant baying of the running hounds,
+the cold gray shadows of the woods, and the knowledge that any moment a
+bear may come crashing through the undergrowth right where we stand,
+tends to hold one in a state of exquisite suspense--not fear, just
+chilly suspense. In fact, I was rather glad to see the sun rise.
+
+But nothing came of this hunt. We worked over the creek bottom below,
+rode over adjacent hills and canyons, struck cold trails here and there
+to assure us that bear really existed, then at about ten o'clock Murphy
+decided that weather conditions of the night before, combined with the
+dissipating effect of sunshine and the lateness of the hour, all
+dictated that we had best give up the game for that day.
+
+So back we rode, the dogs a trifle footsore, for they had covered many
+a mile in their ranging. Tom had shoes for them to wear when they are
+very lame at the first of the season. Later on, their feet become tough
+and need no protection. So we arrived back at the ranch empty-handed.
+
+Next day we rested, and rain fell.
+
+The day following we again tried a hunt and again failed to strike a
+hot track. Tom was perplexed, for it was a rare thing for him to return
+home without a bear. He rather suspected that the bows were a "jinx"
+and brought bad luck. So again we rested the dogs and waited for a
+change of fortune.
+
+The time between hunts Young and I spent shooting rabbits. Once when
+down on the stream bank looking for trout, Young saw a female duck
+diving beneath the surface of the water. As it rose he shot it with an
+arrow and nocking a second shaft, he prepared to deliver a finishing
+blow if necessary, when up the stream he heard the whirring wings of a
+flying duck; instantly he drew his bow, glanced to the left, and shot
+at the rapidly approaching male. Pinioned through the wings, it dropped
+near the first victim and he gathered the two as a tidbit for supper.
+
+These things do happen between our larger adventures, and delight us
+greatly.
+
+The evenings we spent before the fire, played music, and I performed
+sleights of hand, much to the wonderment of the rural audience that
+gathered to see the strangers who expected to kill bears with bows and
+arrows. After numerous coin tricks, card passes, mysterious
+disappearances, productions of wearing apparel and cabbages from a hat,
+and many other incredible feats of prestidigitation, they were almost
+ready to believe we might slay bears with our bows.
+
+Tom's dogs having recovered from our previous unsuccessful trips, we
+started again one crisp frosty morning with the stars all aglitter
+overhead. This time we were sure of good luck. Mrs. Murphy was positive
+we would bring home a bear; she felt it in her bones.
+
+It is cold riding this time in the morning, but it is beautiful. The
+snow-laden limbs of the firs drop their loads upon us as we pass, the
+twigs are whip-like in their recoil as they strike our legs; the horses
+pick their way with surefooted precision, and we wonder what adventures
+wait for us in the silent gloom.
+
+This time we rode far. If bears were to be had any place, they could be
+found in Panther Canyon, below Mt. Lassie.
+
+By sunrise we reached the ridge back of the desired spot where we tied
+our horses preparatory to climbing up the gulch. The dogs were made
+ready; there were only three of them this time: Button, Baldy, and old
+Buck, the shepherd dog. Immediately they struck a cold trail and danced
+around in a circle, baying with long deep bell tones, pleading to be
+released. My breath quivers at the memory of them. Murphy unclasped the
+chains that linked them together and they scampered up the precipitous
+ravine before us. As they passed, Tom pointed out bear tracks, the
+first we had seen.
+
+In less than ten minutes the full-throated bay of the hounds told us
+that they had struck a hot track and routed the bear from his temporary
+den.
+
+That was the signal for speed, and we began a desperate race up the
+side of the mountain. Nothing but perfect physical health can stand
+such a strain. One who is not in athletic training will either fail
+completely in the test or do his heart irreparable damage.
+
+But we were fit; we had trained for the part. Stripped for action, we
+were dressed in hunting breeches, light high-topped shoes spiked on the
+soles, in light cotton shirts, and carried only our bows, quivers of
+arrows, and hunting knives. Tom was a seasoned mountain climber, born
+on the crags, and had knees like a goat. So we ran. Up the side and
+over the crest we sped. The bay of the hounds pealed out with every
+bound ahead of us. As we crossed the ridge, we heard them down the
+canyon below us, the crashing of the bear and the cry of the dogs
+thrilled us with a very old and a very strong flood of emotions.
+Panting and flushed with effort we rushed onward; legs, legs, and more
+air, 'twas all we wanted. Tom is tough and used to altitudes, Young is
+stronger and more youthful than I am, and besides a flapping quiver, an
+unwieldy bow, my camera banged me unmercifully on the back. Still I
+kept up very well, and my early sprinting on the cinder track came to
+my aid. We stuck together, but just as I had about decided that running
+was a physical impossibility, Tom shouted, "He is treed." That was a
+welcome word. We slackened our pace, knowing that the dogs would hold
+him till we arrived, and we needed our breath for the next act. So on a
+trot we came over a rise of ground and saw, away up on the limb of a
+tall straight fir tree, a bear that looked very formidable and large.
+The golden rays of the rising sun were shining through his fur.
+
+That was the first bear I had ever seen in the open, first wild bear,
+first bear with no iron bars between him and me. I felt peculiar.
+
+The dogs were gathered beneath the tree keeping up a chorus of yelps
+and assaulting its base as if to tear it to pieces. The bear apparently
+had no intention of coming down.
+
+Tom had instructed us fully what to do; so we now helped him catch his
+dogs and tie them with a rope which he held. He did this because he
+knew that if we wounded the bear and he descended there was going to be
+a fight, and he didn't want to lose his valuable dogs in an experiment.
+He had his gun to take care of himself, and Young and I were supposed
+to stand our share of the adventure as best we could.
+
+Keen with anticipation of unexpected surprises; wondering, yet willing
+to take a chance, we prepared to shoot our first bear. We stationed
+ourselves some thirty yards from the base of the tree. The bear was
+about seventy-five feet up in the air, facing us, looking down and
+exposing his chest.
+
+We drew our arrows together and a second later released as one man.
+Away flew the two shafts, side by side, and struck the beast in the
+breast, not six inches apart. Like a flash, they melted into his body
+and disappeared forever. He whirled, turned backward, and began sliding
+down the tree.
+
+Ripping and tearing the trunk, he descended almost as if falling, a
+shower of bark preceding him like a cartload of shingles. Tom shouted,
+"You missed him, run up close and shoot him again!" From his side of
+the tree he couldn't see that our arrows had hit and gone through, also
+he was used to seeing bear drop when he hit them with a bullet.
+
+But we were a little diffident about running up close to a wounded
+bear, for Tom had told us it would fight when it got down.
+Nevertheless, we nocked an arrow again, and just as he reached the
+ground we were close by to receive him. We delivered two glancing blows
+on his rapidly falling body. When he landed, however, he selected the
+lower side of the tree, away from us, and bounded off down the canyon.
+We protested that we had hit him and begged Tom to turn his dogs loose.
+After a moment's deliberation, Tom let old Buck go and off he tore in
+hot pursuit. The shepherd was a wily old cattle dog and would keep out
+of harm.
+
+Soon we heard him barking and Murphy exclaimed incredulously, "He's
+treed again!" Button and Baldy were unleashed and once more we started
+our cross-country running. Through maple thickets, over rocky sides,
+down the wooded canyon we galloped. Much sooner than we expected, we
+came to our bear. Hard pressed, he had climbed a small oak and crouched
+out on a swaying limb. We could see that he was heaving badly, and was
+a very sick animal. His gaze was fixed on the howling dogs. Young and I
+ran in close and shot boldly at his swaying body. Our arrows slipped
+through him like magic. One was arrested in its course as it buried
+itself in his shoulder. Savagely he snapped it in two with his teeth,
+when another driven by Young with terrific force struck him above the
+eye. He weakened his hold, slipped backward, dropped from the bending
+limb and rolled over and over down the ravine. The dogs were on him in
+a rush, and wooled him with a vengeance. But he was dead by the time he
+reached the creek bottom. We clambered down, looked him over with awe,
+then Young and I shook hands across the body of our first bear. We took
+his picture.
+
+Tom opened up the chest and abdominal cavity, explored the wounds and
+was full of exclamations of surprise at the damage done by our arrows.
+He agreed that our animal was mortally wounded with our first two
+shots, and had we let him alone there would have been no necessity for
+more arrows. But this being our very first bear, we had overdone the
+killing.
+
+So he gave the liver and lungs to the waiting hounds as a reward for
+their efforts, and cleaned the carcass for carrying. We found the
+stomach full of acorn mush, just as clean and sweet as a mess of
+cornmeal.
+
+Murphy left us to pack the bear up on the pine flat above, while he
+went around three or four miles to get the horses. After a strenuous
+half hour, we got our bear up the steep bank and rested on the flat.
+Here we ate our pocket lunch.
+
+As we sat there quietly eating, we heard a rustle in the woods below
+us, and looking up, saw another good-sized black bear about forty yards
+off. I had one arrow left in my quiver, Young only two broken shafts,
+the rest we had lost in our final scramble. So we passed no insulting
+remarks to the bear below, who suddenly finding our presence, vanished
+in the forest. We had had enough bear for one day, anyhow.
+
+Tom came with the horses, and loaded our trophy on one. Ordinarily a
+horse is greatly frightened at bears, and difficult to manage, but
+these were long ago accustomed to the business. It interested us to see
+the method of tying the carcass securely on a common saddle. By placing
+a clove hitch on the wrists and ankles and cinching these beneath the
+horse's belly with a sling rope through the bear's crotch and around
+its neck, the body was held suspended across the saddle and rode easily
+without shifting until we reached home.
+
+Adult black bear range in weight from one hundred to five hundred
+pounds. Ours, although he had looked very formidable up the tree, was
+really not a very large animal and not fully grown. After cleaning, it
+tipped the scales at a little below two hundred pounds. But it was
+large enough for our purposes, and we couldn't wait for it to grow any
+heavier. It was no fault of ours that it was only some three or four
+years old. We felt that even had it been one of those huge old boys, we
+would have conquered him just the same. In fact, we had begun to count
+ourselves among the intrepid bear slayers of the world. So we returned
+to the ranch in triumph.
+
+
+[Illustration: YOUNG AND I ARE VERY PROUD OF OUR MAIDEN BEAR]
+
+
+Next day we took our departure from Blocksburg and bade the Murphys an
+affectionate farewell. The bear we carried with us wrapped in canvas to
+distribute in luscious steaks to our friends in the city. The beautiful
+silky pelt now rests on the parlor floor of Young's home with a
+ferocious wide open mouth waiting to scare little children, or trip up
+the unwary visitor.
+
+Since this, our maiden bear, we have had various other encounters with
+bruin. Once while hunting mountain lions, we came upon the body of an
+angora goat recently killed by a bear. The ground was covered with his
+ungainly footprints. We set the dogs on the scent and off they went,
+booming in hot pursuit. Running like wild Indians, Young and I followed
+by ear, bows ready strung and quivers held tightly to our sides. In
+less than ten minutes, we burst into a little open glade in the forest
+and saw up in a large madrone tree, a good-sized cinnamon bear
+fretfully eyeing the dogs below.
+
+We had lost our apprehension concerning the outcome of an encounter
+with bears, so we coolly prepared to settle his fate. In fact, we even
+discussed the problem whether or not we should kill him. We were not
+after bears, but lions. This fellow, however, was a rogue, a killer of
+sheep and goats. He had repeatedly thrown our dogs off the track with
+his pungent scent and we were strictly within our hunting rights if we
+wanted him. We therefore drew our broadheads to the barb and drove two
+wicked shafts deep into his front. As if knocked backwards, the bear
+reared and threw himself down the slanting tree trunk. As he reached
+the ground, one of our dogs seized him by the hind leg and the two went
+flying past us within a couple of yards, the dog hanging on like grim
+death. Furiously, the other dogs followed and we leaped to the chase.
+
+This time the course of the bear was marked by a swath of broken brush.
+It dashed headlong through the forest regardless of obstruction. Small
+trees in his way meant nothing to him; he ran over them, or if old and
+brittle, smashed them down. Into the densest portion of the woods he
+made his way. Not more than three hundred yards from the spot he
+started, he treed again. In an almost impenetrable thicket of small
+cedars, the dogs sent up their chorus of barks. I dashed in, fighting
+my way free from restraining limbs, the bow and quiver holding me again
+and again. Young got stuck and fell behind, so that I came alone upon
+our bear at bay. He had mounted but a short distance up a mighty oak
+and hung by his claws to the bark. I had run beneath him before seeing
+his position. Instantly I recognized the danger of the situation and
+backed off, away from the tree, at the same time nocking an arrow on
+the string. I glanced about for Young, but he was detained, so I drew
+the head and discharged my arrow right into the heart region of our
+beast, where it buried its point. Loosening his hold, the bear fell
+backward from the tree and landed on the nape of his neck. He was weak
+with mortal wounds, and even had he wanted to charge me, the combat
+could not have progressed far. But instantly the dogs were on him.
+Seizing him by the front and back legs, they dragged him around a small
+tree, holding him firmly in spite of his struggles, while he bawled
+like a lost calf. The din was terrific; snarling, snapping dogs, the
+crashing underbrush, and the bellowing of bear made the world hideous.
+It seemed that the pain of our arrows was nothing to him compared to
+his fear of the dogs, and when he felt himself helpless in their power,
+his morale was completely shattered.
+
+It was soon over; hardly a minute elapsed before his resistless form
+lay still, and even the dogs knew he was dead. Poor Young arrived at
+this moment, having just extricated himself from the brush.
+
+We skinned the pelt to make quivers, took his claws for decorations,
+and cut some sweet bear steaks from his hams; the rest we gave to the
+pack.
+
+It seems a very proper thing that the service of the dogs should always
+be recognized promptly, that they be given their share of the spoils
+and that they be praised for their courage and fidelity. This makes
+them better hunters. Stupid men who drive off their dogs from the
+quarry, defer their rewards, and grudge them praise, kill the spirit of
+the chase within them and spoil them for work.
+
+Hounds have the finest hunting spirit of any animal. The team work of
+the wolf and their intelligent use of strategy is one of the most
+striking evidences of community interests in animal life.
+
+The fellowship between us and our dogs is a most satisfactory relation.
+Since prehistoric times, the hunter has taken advantage of the
+comradeship and on it rests the mutual dependence and trust of the two.
+
+Altogether, bringing bears to bay is among the most thrilling
+experiences of life. It is a primitive sport and as such it stirs up in
+the human breast the primordial emotions of men. The sense of danger,
+the bodily exhaustion, the ancestral blood lust, the harkening bay of
+the hounds, the awe of deep-shadowed forests, and the return to an
+almost hand-to-claw contest with the beast, call upon a latent manhood
+that is fast disappearing in the process of civilization.
+
+I hope there always will be bears to hunt and youthful adventurers to
+chase them.
+
+
+
+
+XIII
+
+
+MOUNTAIN LIONS
+
+
+The cougar, panther, or mountain lion is our largest representative of
+the cat family. Early settlers in the Eastern States record the
+existence of this treacherous beast in their conquest of the forests.
+The cry of the "painter," as he was called, rang through the dark woods
+and caused many hearts to quaver and little children to run to mother's
+side. Once in a while stories came of human beings having met their
+doom at the swift stealthy leap of this dreaded beast. He was bolder
+then than now. Today he is not less courageous, but more cautious. He
+has learned the increased power of man's weapons.
+
+Our Indians knew that he would strike, as they struck, without warning
+and at an advantage. It is a matter of tradition among frontiersmen
+that he has upon rare occasions attacked and killed bears. Even today
+he will attack man if provoked by hunger, and can do so with some
+assurance of success, the statements of certain naturalists to the
+contrary notwithstanding.
+
+John Capen Adams, in his adventures, [1]
+[Footnote 1: _The Adventures of James Capen Adams of California_, by
+Theodore H. Hittell.]
+describes such an episode. The lion in this instance sprang upon a
+companion, seized him by the back of the neck, and bore him to the
+ground. He was only saved from death by a thick buckskin collar to his
+coat and the ready assistance of Adams who heard the cry for help.
+
+I know of an instance where a California lion leaped upon some bathing
+children and attempted to kill them, but was driven off by the heroic
+efforts of a young woman school teacher, who in turn died of her
+wounds.
+
+Those of us who have roamed the wilds of the western country have had
+varying experiences with this animal, while others have lived their
+lives in districts undoubtedly infested with cougars and have never
+seen one, although nearly every mountain rancher has heard that
+hair-raising, almost human scream echo down the canyon. It is like the
+wail of a woman in pain. Penetrating and quavering, it rings out on the
+night gloom, and brings to the human what it must, in a similar way,
+bring to the lesser animals a sense of impending attack, a death
+warning. It is part of the system of the predatory beast that he uses
+fear to weaken the powers of his prey before he assaults it. Animal
+psychology is essentially utilitarian. Cowering, trembling, muscularly
+relaxed, on the verge of emotional shock, we are easier to overcome.
+
+The cougar lives principally on deer. His kill averages more than one a
+week, and often we may find evidence that this murderer has wantonly
+slain two or three deer in a single night's expedition.
+
+It is not his habit to lie in wait on the limb of a tree, though he
+often sleeps there; but he makes a stealthy approach on the
+unsuspecting victim, then, with a series of stupendous bounds, he
+throws himself upon the deer, and by his momentum bears it to the
+ground. Here, while he holds on with teeth and forelegs, he rips open
+the flank with his hind claws and immediately plunges his head into the
+open abdomen, where he tears the great blood vessels with his teeth and
+drinks its life blood.
+
+These are facts learned from lion hunters whose observations are
+accurate and reliable. A lion can jump a distance greater than
+twenty-four feet, and has been seen to ascend at a single leap a cliff
+of rock eighteen feet high.
+
+Their weight runs from one hundred to two hundred pounds, and the
+length from six to nine feet. The skin will stretch farther than this,
+but we count only the carcass from the tip of the nose to the tip of
+the extended tail. The speed of a lion for a short distance is greater
+than that of a greyhound, less than five seconds to the hundred yards.
+
+Some observers contend that the lion never gives that blood-curdling
+cry assigned to him. They say he is silent, and that this classic
+scream is made by a lynx in the mating period. However, popular
+experience to the contrary seems to be too strong and counterbalances
+this iconoclastic opinion.
+
+For many years, off and on, we have hunted lions, but sad to say, we
+have done more hunting than finding. They are a very wary creature.
+Practically, one never sees them unless hunting with dogs; they may be
+in the brush within thirty yards, but the human eye will fail to
+discern them.
+
+Our camps have been robbed by lions, our horses killed by them, cattle
+and sheep ruthlessly murdered; lion tracks have been all about, and yet
+unless trapped or treed by dogs, we have never met.
+
+Camping at the base of Pico Blanco, in Monterey County, several years
+ago, a lion was seen to bound across the road and follow a small band
+of deer. At this very spot a few seasons before one leaped upon an old
+mare with foal and broke her neck as she crashed through the fence and
+rolled down the hill. Three years later I rode the young horse. As we
+passed the tree from which it is thought the lion sprang, where the
+broken fence was still unmended, my colt jumped and reared, the memory
+of his fright was still vivid in his mind. Up the trail a half mile
+beyond we saw other fresh lion tracks. At night we camped on the ridge
+with our dogs in hope that our feline friend would come again.
+
+It was too late to hunt that evening, so we turned in. Nothing happened
+save that in the middle of the night I was roused by the whine of our
+dogs, and looking up in the face of the pale moon, I saw two deer go
+bounding past, silhouetted like graceful phantoms across the silvered
+sky. They swept across the lunar disc and melted into blackness over
+the dark horizon.
+
+No sound followed them, and having appeased the fretful hounds, we
+returned to sleep. In the morning, up the trail, there were his tracks;
+too wise to cross the human scent, and knowing that there are more deer
+in the brush, he had turned upon his course and let his quarry slip.
+
+Because of the heat and the inferior tracking capacity of our dogs, we
+never got this panther. A lion dog is a specialist and must be so
+trained that no other track will divert him from his quest. These dogs
+were willing, but erratic.
+
+The best dogs for this work are mongrels. By far the finest lion dog I
+ever saw was a cross between a shepherd and an airedale. He had the
+intelligence of the former and the courage of the latter. The airedale
+himself is not a good trailer, he is too temperamental. He will start
+on a lion track, jump off and chase a deer and wind up by digging out a
+ground squirrel. After a good hound finds a lion, the airedale will
+tackle him.
+
+We once started an airedale on a lion track, followed him at a fiendish
+pace, dashed down the side of a mountain, and found that he had an
+angora goat up a tree.
+
+This cougar on Pico Blanco still roams the forests, so far as I know,
+and many with him. Once we saw him across a canyon. He appeared as a
+tawny slow-moving body as large as a deer but low to the earth and
+trailing a listless tail, while his head slowly swung from side to
+side. He seemed to be looking for something on the ground. For the
+space of a hundred yards we watched him traverse an open side hill,
+deep in ferns and brakes. Seeing him thus was little satisfaction to
+us, for we had lost our dogs. Ferguson and I were returning from one of
+our unsuccessful expeditions.
+
+We started with two saddle horses, a pack animal, and five good lion
+dogs. On the trail to the Ventana Mountains we came across lion tracks
+and followed them for a day, then lost them; but we knew that a large
+male and young female were ranging over the country. Their circuit
+extended over a radius of ten miles; they are great travelers.
+
+The track of a lion is characteristic. The general contour is round,
+from three to four inches in diameter. There are four toe prints
+arranged in a semicircle which show no claw marks. But the ball of the
+foot is the unmistakable feature. It consists of three distinct
+eminences or pads which lie parallel, antero-posteriorly, and appear in
+the track as if you had pressed the terminal phalanges of your fingers
+side by side in the dust. These marks are nearly equal in length and
+absolutely identify the big cat.
+
+On the morning of the second day of our trailing this lion, our pack
+was working down in the thick brush below the crest of Rattlesnake
+Ridge, when suddenly they raised a chorus of yelps. There was a rush of
+bodies in the chamise brush, and the chase was on at a furious pace. We
+rode up to an observation point and saw the dogs speeding down the
+canyon side, close on the heels of a yellow leaping demon. They
+switched from side to side, as cat and dog races have been carried on
+since time immemorial.
+
+The undergrowth was so dense we could not follow, so we sat our horses
+and waited for them to tree. But further and further they descended.
+They crossed the bottom, mounted a cliff on the opposite side, came
+scrambling down from this and plunged into the bed of the stream, where
+their voices were lost to hearing.
+
+We rode around to a spur of the hill that dipped into the brush and
+overhung the canyon. From this we heard occasional barks away down at
+least a mile below us. It was a difficult situation. Nothing but a
+bluejay could possibly get down to the creek below. I never saw such a
+jungle! So we waited for the indications that the lion was treed, but
+all became silent.
+
+Evening approached, we ate our supper and then sat on the hill above,
+sounding our horns. Their vibrant echoes rang from mountain to mountain
+and returned to us clear and sweet.
+
+Way down below us, where a purple haze hung over the deep ravine, we
+faintly heard the answering hounds. In their voices we caught the dog's
+response to his master and friend. It said, "We have him. Come! Come!"
+We blew the horns again. The elf-land notes returned again and again,
+and with them came the call of the faithful hound, "We are here. Come!
+Come!"
+
+Now, there was a pitiful plight. No sane man would venture down such a
+chasm, impenetrable with thorns, and night descending. So we built a
+beacon fire and waited for dawn. All during the long dark hours we
+heard the distant appeal of the hounds, and we slept little.
+
+At the first rays of dawn we took a hasty meal, fed our horses, and
+stripping ourselves of every unnecessary accoutrement, we prepared to
+descend the canyon. Our bows and quivers we left behind because it
+would have been impossible to drag them through the jungle. Ferguson
+carried only his Colt pistol; I took my hunting knife.
+
+Having surveyed the topography carefully, we attacked the problem at
+its most available angle and slid from view. We literally dived beneath
+the brush. For more than two hours we wormed our way down the face of
+the mountain, crawling like moles at the base of the overhanging
+thickets of poison oak, wild lilac, chamise, sage, manzanita, hazel and
+buckthorn. At last we reached the depth of the canyon and, finding a
+little water, we bathed our sweat-grimed faces and cooled off.
+
+No sound of the dogs was heard, but pressing forward we followed the
+boulder-strewn bottom of the creek for a mile or more, almost
+despairing of ever finding them, when suddenly we came upon a strange
+sight. There was the pack in a circle about a big reclining oak. They
+were voiceless and utterly exhausted, but sat watching a huge lion
+crouched on a great overhanging limb of the tree. The moment we
+appeared they raised a feeble, hoarse yelp of delight. The panther
+turned his head, saw us, sprang from the tree with a prodigious bound,
+landed on the side hill, tore down the canyon, and leaped over a
+precipice below.
+
+The dogs, heartened by our presence, with instant accord charged after
+the lion. When they came to the precipitous drop in the bed of the
+stream, they whined a second, ran back and forth, then mounted the
+lateral wall, circled sidewise and, by a detour, gained the ground
+below. We ran and looked over. The drop was at least thirty feet. The
+cat had taken it without hesitation, but we were absolutely stalled.
+Even if we had cared to take the risk of the descent, we saw so many
+similar drops beyond that the situation was hopeless. The dogs having
+lost their voices, we were at a great disadvantage. So we returned to
+the tree to rest and meditate.
+
+There we saw the evidence of the long vigil of the night. All about its
+base were little nests, where the tired dogs had bedded down and kept
+their weary watch. Their incessant barking had served to keep the
+cougar treed, but it cost them a temporary loss of voice. Poor devils,
+they had our admiration and sympathy.
+
+At noon, hearing nothing from the hounds, we decided to return to camp.
+If coming down was hard, going up was herculean. We crawled on hands
+and knees, dragged ourselves by projecting roots, panted, rested, and
+worked again. After a three-hours' struggle we came out upon a rough
+ledge of granite, a mile below the spot at which we aimed, but near
+enough to the top to permit us, after a little more brush fighting, to
+gain our camp and lie down, too fatigued to eat.
+
+For another day we remained at this place, hoping that the dogs would
+return, but in vain. At last we decided to pack up and go around a
+ten-mile detour and work up the outlet of the canyon. We left a mess of
+food in several piles for the dogs should they return, and knew they
+could follow our horses' tracks if they came to camp.
+
+But our detour was futile. We lost all signs of our pack and returned
+to our headquarters to await results.
+
+It was on this homeward journey that we saw the lion of Pico Blanco,
+and had to let him slip.
+
+Ten days later, two weak, emaciated hounds came into camp, an old
+veteran and a young dog that trailed after him as if tied with a rope.
+He had followed him to save his life, and for days after he could not
+be separated without whining with fear.
+
+We fed them carefully and nursed them back to health. But these were
+all of the five to appear. Old Belle, the greatest fighter of them all,
+was gone. She must have met her death at the claws of the cougar, for
+nothing else could keep her. This ended that particular lion hunt.
+
+In our travels over California in search for cougars, we have picked up
+more tales than trails of the big cats.
+
+Just before one of my visits to Gorda, on the Monterey Coast, a panther
+visited the Mansfield ranch in broad daylight. Jasper being up on the
+mountainside after deer, his wife, left at home with the two little
+children, noticed a very large lion out in the pasture back of the
+house. It wandered among the cattle in a most unconcerned manner and
+did not even cause a stir. While it did not approach any of the cows
+very closely, they seemed to be not in the least alarmed. For half an
+hour or more it stayed in the neighborhood of the house, where Mrs.
+Mansfield locked herself in and waited for her husband's return. It was
+not until evening, and too late to track the beast, that Jasper came
+home. So no capture was made.
+
+Some time before this, one of the hired hands on the ranch was going to
+his cabin in the dusk; and swinging his hand idly to catch the tops of
+tall grass by the side of the path, he suddenly touched something warm
+and soft. Instantly he grasped a handful of the substance. At the same
+moment some sort of an animal bounded off in the dark. Holding fast to
+the material in his hand, he ran back to the farmhouse and found his
+fist full of lion hair. To say that he was startled, puts it very
+mildly. Apparently one of these beasts had been crouched on a log by
+the side of his path, waiting for something to turn up. The hired man
+took a lantern home with him after that.
+
+At another ranch on the Big Sur River, one of the little boys called to
+his mother that there was a funny sort of a "big dog" out in the
+pasture. His mother paid no attention to it, but a diminutive pet black
+and tan started an assault on the animal in question. The lion and the
+dog disappeared in the brush. Presently the canine barking ceased and
+the small boy wondered what had become of his valiant companion. In a
+few minutes he heard a plaintive whine up in a near-by tree, and
+running to its base he found that the panther had seized his pet by the
+nape of the neck and climbed a tall fir with him. The boy ran for his
+father, working in the fields, who, bringing his rifle, dispatched the
+panther. As it fell from the tree, the little dog clung to the upper
+limbs, and stayed at the top. Nothing they could do would coax him
+down. The fir was one difficult to climb, so to save time the man took
+an ax and felled the tree, which, falling gently against another,
+precipitated the canine hero to the ground without harm. Later I had
+the pleasure of shaking his paw and congratulating him on his bravery.
+
+After many futile attempts, at last our opportunity to get a _Felis
+Concolor_ arrived. We received word from a certain ranger station in
+Tuolumne County that a mountain lion was killing sheep and deer in the
+immediate vicinity, and having the promise of a well trained pack,
+Arthur Young and I gathered our archery tackle and started from San
+Francisco at night in an automobile. We traveled until the small hours
+of the morning, then lay down on the side of the road to take a short
+sleep; and rising at the first gray of dawn, sped on our way.
+
+We reached the Sierras by sun-up and began to climb. At noon we met our
+guide above Italian Bar, and prepared for an evening hunt. This,
+however, was as unsatisfactory as evening hunts usually are.
+
+A morning expedition the next day only brought out the fact that our
+lion had left the country. News of his activities twelve miles further
+up the mountains having been obtained, we gathered our bows, arrows,
+and dogs and departed for this region. Here we found a bloody record of
+his work. More than two hundred goats had been killed by the big cat in
+the past year. In fact, the rancher thought that several panthers were
+at work. Goats were taken from beneath the shepherd's nose, and as he
+turned in one direction, another goat would be killed behind him. It
+seemed impossible to apprehend the villain; their dogs were useless.
+
+Equipped for rough camping, we soon planned our morning excursion and
+bedded down for rest.
+
+At 3 o'clock we waked, ate a meager breakfast, and hit the trail up the
+mountain. We knew the general range of our cougar. It is necessary in
+all his tracking to get in the field while the dew is on the ground and
+before the sun dissipates it, also before the goats obliterate the
+tracks.
+
+Arrived at the crest of the ridge, we struck a well-defined goat trail,
+and soon the fresh tracks of a lion were discovered. Our dogs took up
+the scent at once and we began to travel at a rapid pace.
+
+Here again, one must have a good pair of legs. If automobiles,
+elevators, and general laziness have not ruined your powers of
+locomotion, you may follow the dogs; otherwise, you had best stay at
+home.
+
+At first we walk, then we trot, and when with a leap the hounds start
+in full cry, we race. Regardless of five thousand feet of altitude,
+regardless of brush, rocks, and dizzy cliffs, we follow at a breakneck
+pace. I don't know where our breath comes from in these trials. We just
+have to run; in fact, we have planned to run on our hands when our legs
+play out. With pounding hearts we surge ahead. "Keep the dogs within
+hearing!" "It can't last long!" But this time we come to a sudden halt
+on a rocky slide. We've lost the scent. The dogs circle and backtrack
+and work with feverish haste. The sun has risen, and up the mountain
+side comes a band of goats led by a single shepherd dog--no man in
+sight. We shout to the dog to steer his rabble away, but on they come,
+and obliterate our trail with a thousand hoofprints and a cloud of
+dust.
+
+The sun then comes out, and our day is done. No felis this time.
+
+So we scout the country for information to be used later, and return to
+camp to drown our sorrow in food.
+
+This was my first knowledge that a dog could be placed in charge of a
+flock of sheep or goats. It seems that these little sheep dogs, not
+even collies, but some shaggy little plebeians, are given full charge
+of the band. They lead them out to pasture, guard them, and keep them
+together during the day and bring them home at night. They will, when
+properly instructed, take a band of goats out for a week on a long
+route, and bring them all safely home again. At least, they used to do
+this until the lion appeared on the scene.
+
+That evening we asked the rancher to lock his goats in the corral till
+noon.
+
+Next morning we rose again in time to see the morning star glitter with
+undimmed glory. Up the trail we mounted, the dogs eager for the chase.
+An old owl in a hollow tree asked us again and again who we were; all
+else was silent in the woods.
+
+Saving our strength, we arrived quietly on the upper ridges and waited
+for the dawn. Way down below us in the canyon we could smell the faint
+incense of our camp-fire. The morning breeze was just beginning to
+breathe in the trees. The birds awoke with little whispered
+confidences, small twitterings and chirps. A faint lavender tint melted
+the stars in the eastern sky. Shadows crept beneath the trees, and we
+knew it was time to start.
+
+Just as the light defined the margins of the trail, we picked up in the
+grayness the track of a lion. Strange to say, the dogs had not smelled
+it, but when we pointed to the footprint in the dust, which was
+apparently none too fresh, they took up the work of tracking. It is
+astonishing to see how a dog can tell which way a track leads. If in
+doubt, he runs quickly back and forth on the scent, and thus gauges the
+way the animal has progressed. A mediocre dog cannot do this, but we
+had dogs with college educations.
+
+Traveling carefully and at a moderate pace, we came to an open knoll in
+the forest. Here in the ferns our pack circled about us as if the cat
+had been doing a circus stunt, and they seemed confused. Later on we
+found that our feline friend had been experimenting with a porcupine
+and learned another lesson in natural history.
+
+Suddenly the leader sniffed at a fallen tree where, doubtless, the cat
+had perched, then with a ringing bay, the hound clamped his tail close
+to his rump and left in a streak of yellow light. The rest of the pack
+leaped into full cry.
+
+We were off on a hot track. Oh, for the wings of a bird! Trained as
+Young and I were to desperate running, this game taxed us to the
+utmost. First we climbed the knoll, deep in ferns and mountain misery,
+then we dashed over the crest, tore through manzanita brush, thickets
+of young cedar and buckthorn, over ledges of lava rock, down deep
+declivities, among giant oaks, cedars, and pines. As we ran we grasped
+our ready strung bows in one hand and the flapping quivers in the
+other.
+
+You would not think that at this time we could take note of the
+fragrant shrubs and pine needles beneath our feet, but I smelled them
+as we passed in flight, and they revived me to renewed energy. On we
+rushed, only to lose the sound of the dogs. Then we listened and caught
+it down the hill below us. Again we hurdled barriers of brush, took
+long sliding leaps down the treacherous shale and ran breathless to the
+shade of a great oak.
+
+There above our heads was the lion. Oh, the beauty of that beast!
+
+Heaving and giddy with exertion, we saw a wonderful sight, a great
+tawny, buff-colored body crouched on a limb, grace and power in every
+outline. A huge, soft cylindrical tail swung slowly back and forth.
+
+Luminous eyes gazed at us in utmost calm, a cold calculating calm. He
+watched and waited our next move, waited with his great muscles tense
+for action.
+
+We retreated, not only to get out of his reach, but to gain a better
+shooting position. As we did this, he gave a lithe leap to a higher
+limb and shielded himself as best he could behind the boughs of the
+tree.
+
+From our position, his chest and throat were visible through a
+triangular space in the branches, not more than a foot across. We must
+shoot through this. His attitude was so huddled that his head hung over
+his shoulder.
+
+Young and I caught our breath, drew our arrows from their quivers,
+nocked them, and set ourselves in the archer's "stable stand." We drew
+together and, at a mutual thought, shot together. Because of our
+unsteady condition the arrows flew a trifle wild. Mine buried itself in
+the lion's shoulder. Young's hit him in the nose.
+
+He reared and struck at this latter shaft, then, not dislodging it,
+began swaying back and forth while with both front paws he fought the
+arrow.
+
+While he thrashed about thus in the tree top, we nocked two more arrows
+and shot. We both missed the brute. Young's flew off into the next
+state, and if you ever go up into Tuolumne County, you will find mine
+buried deep in the heart of an oak.
+
+Just as we nocked a third arrow, he freed himself from the offending
+shaft in his muzzle, raised his fore-paws upon a limb and prepared to
+leap. In that movement he bared the white hair of his throat and chest,
+and like a flash, two keen arrows were driven through his heart area.
+
+
+[Illustration: ARTHUR YOUNG AND HIS COUGAR]
+
+
+[Illustration: OUR FIRST MOUNTAIN LION]
+
+
+[Illustration: WE PACK THE PANTHER TO CAMP]
+
+As they struck and disappeared from sight, he leaped. Like a flying
+squirrel, he soared over our heads. Full seventy-five feet he cleared
+in one mighty outward, downward bound. I saw his body glint across the
+rising sun, swoop in a wonderful curve and land in a sheltering bush.
+
+The dogs threw themselves upon him. There was a medley of sounds, a
+fierce, but brief fight, and all was over. We grabbed him by the tail
+and dragged him forth--dead. The ringleader of our pack, trembling with
+excitement, effort, and fighting frenzy, drove all the other dogs away
+and took possession of the body. No one but a man, his master, might
+touch it.
+
+Our lion was a young male, six feet eight inches from tip to tip, and
+weighing a little over one hundred and twenty pounds. Later, as we
+skinned him, we found his paws full of porcupine quills, speaking
+loudly of his recent experience. The stomach was empty; the chest was
+full of blood from our arrows.
+
+He was as easy to kill as a deer. We packed him back to camp and added
+his photograph to our rogues' gallery.
+
+There was no further goat killing on that Sierra ranch.
+
+This was our first lion, and for me so far, my only one. Arthur Young,
+however, has been fortunate enough to land two cougars by himself on
+another hunting trip.
+
+Captain C. H. Styles, a recent addition to the ranks of field archers,
+while on an expedition to cut yew staves in Humboldt County,
+California, started a mountain lion, ran him to bay with hounds, and
+killed him with one arrow in the chest. We shall undoubtedly hear more
+of the captain later on.
+
+But so long as we can draw a bowstring and our legs hold out, and there
+is an intelligent dog to be had, it will not be the last lion on our
+list. Wherever there are deer, there will be found panthers, and it is
+our business to help reduce their number in the game fields to maintain
+the balance of power.
+
+
+
+
+XIV
+
+
+GRIZZLY BEAR
+
+
+The very idea of shooting grizzly bears with the bow and arrow strikes
+most people as so absurd that they laugh at the mention of it. The
+mental picture of the puny little archery implements of their childhood
+opposed to that of the largest and most fearsome beast of the Western
+world, produces merriment and incredulity.
+
+Because it seemed so impossible, I presume, this added to our desire to
+accomplish it.
+
+Ever since we began hunting with the bow, we had talked of shooting
+grizzlies. We thought of an Alaskan trip as a remotely attainable
+adventure, and planned murderous arrows of various ingenious spring
+devices to increase their cutting qualities. We estimated the power of
+formidable bows necessary to pierce the hides of these monsters. In
+fact, it was the acme of our hunting desires.
+
+We read the biography of John Capen Adams and his adventures with the
+California grizzlies, and Roosevelt's admirable descriptions of these
+animals. They filled out our dreams with detail. And after killing
+black bears we needed only the opportunity to make our wish become an
+exploit.
+
+The opportunity to do this arrived unexpectedly, as many opportunities
+seem to, when the want and the preparedness coincide.
+
+The California Academy of Sciences has in its museum in Golden Gate
+Park, San Francisco, a collection of very fine animal habitat groups,
+among which are deer, antelope, mountain sheep, cougars, and brown
+bear. While an elk group was being installed, it happened that the
+taxidermist, Mr. Paul Fair, said to me that the next and final setting
+would be one of grizzly bears. In surprise, I asked him if it were not
+a fact that the California grizzly was extinct. He said this was true,
+but the silver-tip bear of Wyoming was a grizzly and its range extended
+westward to the Sierra Nevada Mountains; so it could properly be
+classified as a Pacific Coast variety. He cited Professor Merriam's
+monograph on the classification of grizzlies to prove his statements.
+He also informed me that permit might be obtained from Washington to
+secure these specimens in Yellowstone National Park.
+
+Immediately I perceived an opportunity and interviewed Dr. Barton
+Everman, curator of the museum, concerning the feasibility of offering
+our services in taking these bears at no expense to the academy.
+Incidentally, we proposed to shoot them with the bow and arrow, and
+thereby answer a moot question in anthropology. The proposition
+appealed to him, and he wrote to Washington for a permit to secure
+specimens in this National Park, stating that the bow and arrow would
+be used. I insisted upon this latter stipulation, so that there should
+be no misunderstanding if, in the future, any objection was raised to
+this method of hunting.
+
+In a very short time permit was given to the academy, and we started
+our preparations for the expedition. This was late in the fall of 1919,
+and bear were at their best in the spring, just after hibernation; so
+we had ample time.
+
+It was planned that Mr. Compton, Mr. Young, and I should be the
+hunters, and such other assistance would be obtained as seemed
+necessary. We began reviewing our experience and formulating the
+principles of the campaign.
+
+Our weapons we now considered adequate in the light of our contact with
+black bears. We had found that our bows were as strong as we could
+handle, and ample to drive a good arrow through a horse, a fact which
+we had demonstrated upon the carcasses of recently dead animals.
+
+But we decided to add to the length of our arrowheads, and use tempered
+instead of soft steel as heretofore. We took particular pains to have
+them perfect in every detail.
+
+Then we undertook the study of the anatomy of bears and the location
+and size of their vital organs. In the work of William Wright on the
+grizzly, we found valuable data concerning the habits and nature of
+these animals.
+
+In spite of the reputation of this bear for ferocity and tenacity of
+life, we felt that, after all, he was only made of flesh and blood, and
+our arrows were capable of solving the problem.
+
+We also began preparing ourselves for the contest. Although habitually
+in good physical condition, we undertook special training for the big
+event. By running, the use of dumbbells and other gymnastic practices,
+we strengthened our muscles and increased our endurance. Our field
+shooting was also directed toward rapid delivery and the quick judgment
+of distances on level, uphill, and falling ground. In fact, we planned
+to leave no factor for success untried.
+
+My brother, G. D. Pope, of Detroit, being a hunter of big game with the
+gun, was invited to join the party, and his advice was asked concerning
+a reliable guide. He gladly consented to come with us and share the
+expenses. At the same time he suggested Ned Frost, of Cody, Wyoming, as
+the most experienced hunter of grizzly bears in America.
+
+About this time one of my professional friends visited the Smithsonian
+Institute at Washington, where he met a member of the staff, who
+inquired if he knew Doctor Pope, of San Francisco, a man that was
+contemplating shooting grizzlies with the bow and arrow. The doctor
+replied that he did, whereat the sage laughed and said that the feat
+was impossible, most dangerous and foolhardy; it could not be done. We
+fully appreciated the danger involved--therein lay some of the zest.
+But we also knew that even should we succeed in killing them in
+Yellowstone Park, the glory would be sullied by the popular belief that
+all park bears are hotel pets, live upon garbage, and that it was a
+cruel shame to torment them with arrows.
+
+So in my early correspondence with Frost, I assured him that we did not
+want to shoot any tame bears and that we would not consider the trip at
+all if this were necessary. He assured us that this was not necessary,
+and reminded us that Yellowstone Park was fifty miles wide by sixty
+miles long, and that some of the highest portions of the Rocky
+Mountains lay in it. The animals in this preserve, he said, were far
+from tame and the bears were divided into two distinct groups, one
+mostly composed of black and brown with a few inferior specimens of
+grizzlies that frequent the dumps back of the camps and hotels, and
+another group of bears that never came near civilization, but lived
+entirely up in the rugged mountains and were as dangerous and wary as
+those in Alaska or any other wild country. These bear wander outside
+the park and furnish hunting material throughout the neighboring State.
+He promised to put us in communication with grizzlies that were as
+unspoiled and unafraid as those first seen by Lewis and Clarke in their
+early explorations.
+
+After explaining the purposes of our trip and the use of the bow, Ned
+Frost agreed that it was a real sporting proposition and took up the
+plan with enthusiasm. I sent him a sample arrow we used in hunting, and
+his letter in reply I take the liberty of printing. It is typical of
+the frontier spirit and comes, not only from the foremost grizzly
+hunter of all times, but discloses the man's bigness of heart:
+
+    "My dear Doctor:
+
+    "Your letter of the 18th was received a day or so ago, and last
+    night I received 'Good Medicine' [a hunting arrow] on the evening
+    train, and I feel better away down deep about this hunt after a
+    good examination of this little Grizzly Tickler than I have at any
+    time before. I have, by mistake, let it simmer out in a quiet way
+    that I was going to see what a grizzly would really do if he had a
+    few sticks stuck in his innerds, and my friends have been giving
+    the Mrs. and me a regular line of farewell parties. Really, I think
+    it has been a splendid paying thing to do; pork chops are high, you
+    know, and I really feel I am off to the good about nine dollars and
+    six bits worth of bacon and flour right now on this deal. Maybe
+    I'll be in debt to you before green-grass if I don't look out.
+
+    "Well, anyway, here is hoping we will all live through it and have
+    a dandy time. Don't worry about coming to blows with the bear; I
+    have noticed from long experience that it is not the times that you
+    think a bear is going to give you trouble that it happens, but
+    always when least expected. I have trailed wounded grizzlies time
+    and time again, and was more or less worried all the while, but
+    never had one turn on me yet. Then, too, I have had about three
+    experiences with them that made my hair stand straight up, and when
+    it finally settled, it had more FROST in it than ever before; and
+    let me add right here, that one of the worst places I ever got into
+    was when I had sixteen of the best bear dogs that were ever gotten
+    together I believe, after an old she-grizzly, and I was like you,
+    thought they would hold the bear's attention. BUT, don't let any
+    notion like this get you into trouble. Now, I am not running down
+    dogs as a means of getting bear; I love them and would now have a
+    good pack if it was possible to run them in the game fields of this
+    State, but you don't want to think that they can handle a grizzly
+    like they do a black bear. In fact, I would place no value on them
+    whatsoever as a safeguard in case a grizzly got on the pack, and I
+    am speaking from experience, mind you. No, a good little shepherd
+    would do more than a dozen regular bear dogs, but there is only
+    about one little shepherd like I speak of in a lifetime.
+
+    "If you can use the bow from horseback, here is a safe proposition,
+    and I believe a practical one, too. But I don't feel that there is
+    really so much danger in the game after all, as it is only once in
+    a great while that any bear will go up against the human animal,
+    and then is most likely to be when you are not expecting it at all.
+    Don't worry about it. What I am thinking about most is to get the
+    opportunity to get the first arrow into some good big worthy old
+    boy that will be a credit to the expedition.
+
+    "There are lots of grizzlies in the park all right, and some of
+    them are not very wild, but if you get out away from the hotels a
+    few miles, they are not going to come up and present their
+    broadsides to you at thirty yards. So, as I say, I am thinking
+    mostly about the chances of getting the opportunities. I don't
+    know, of course, just how close you can place your arrows at thirty
+    yards, and it is getting the first hole into them that I am most
+    interested in now. I feel that we ought to get some good chances,
+    as I have seen so many bear in the park; but, of course, have never
+    hunted them and don't know just how keen they will be when it comes
+    right down to getting their hides. There are some scattered all
+    over the park that will rob a camp at night, and some of them will
+    even put up a fight for it, but most of them will beat it as soon
+    as one gets after them.
+
+    "It would be impossible, I believe, to keep dogs still while
+    watching a bait, as they would get the scent of any approaching
+    bear, and then you would not be able to keep them quiet, and they
+    would most likely scare the bear out of the country. I can rustle a
+    few dogs to take along if you want them, and pretty good dogs, too;
+    but I am not strong for them myself only in this way, to put them
+    on the trail of a bear and take a good horse apiece, so that we
+    could get up to the chase and have a chance to land on him. This
+    might be a good thing to try if all others failed.
+
+    "I know how you feel about killing clean with the bow and not
+    having any shooting, and I can assure you that I would let 'em get
+    just as close as you want them, and not feel any concern about
+    their getting the best of anybody, and you would have a chance to
+    use the bow well in this case; but I am more prone to think they
+    will beat it off with a lot of your perfectly good arrows than
+    anything else.
+
+    "Yours truly,
+
+    "NED FROST."
+
+
+ It was apparent from the first that dogs were of little use in taking
+grizzly. It would be necessary to shoot from blinds set conveniently
+near bait. Frost assured us that bears of this variety, when just out
+of hibernation and lean, would run out of the country if chased by a
+pack of dogs, and incidentally kill all that they could catch. In the
+fall of the year, when the bears are fat, they refuse to run, but wade
+through the pack, which is unable to keep him from attacking the
+hunter.
+
+As an example of this, he related an instance where he started a
+grizzly with eight or ten Russian bear hounds, and chased the beast
+about thirty miles. As he followed on horseback, he found one after the
+other of his dogs torn to pieces, disemboweled, and dismembered. At
+last, he came upon the bear at bay in deep snow, against a high cliff.
+Only two of his hounds were left, and one of these had a broken leg.
+Mad with vengeance, Frost shot the grizzly. It charged him at forty
+yards. In quick succession he fired five bullets in the oncoming bear,
+seemingly with no effect. Up to his waist in the snow, he was unable to
+avoid its rush. It came on and fell dead on his chest, with the
+faithful hound hanging to it in a desperate effort to save his master.
+
+This is one of the three or four maulings that Ned has received in his
+hunting experiences, which, he says, "have added frost to my golden
+locks." The dog became a cherished pet in the family for many years.
+
+Frost killed his first bear when fourteen years of age, and has added
+nearly five hundred to this number since that time.
+
+It is characteristic of the grizzly that he will charge upon the
+slightest provocation, and that nothing will turn him aside from his
+purpose. Later we found this particularly true where the female with
+cubs is concerned.
+
+Instances of this are too well known to recount, but one coming under
+our own experience was related to me by Tom Murphy, the bear hunter of
+California.
+
+In early days in Humboldt County, there lived an old settler named Pete
+Bluford, who was a squaw man. He shot a female grizzly with cubs within
+a quarter of a mile of what are now the town limits of Blocksburg. The
+beast charged and struck him to the ground. At the same time she ripped
+open the man's abdomen. Bluford dropped under a fallen tree, where the
+bear repeatedly assaulted him, tearing at his body. By rolling back and
+forth as the grizzly leaped over the log to reach him from the other
+side, he escaped further injury. Worried by the hunter's dog, she
+finally ceased her efforts and wandered off. The man was able to reach
+home in spite of a large open wound in his abdomen, with protruding
+intestines. This was roughly sewed together by his friend, Beany
+Powell. He recovered from the experience and lived many years with the
+Indians of that locality. As an example of Western humor, it is related
+that Beany Powell, when sewing up the wound with twine and a sack
+needle, found a large lump of fat protruding from the incision, of
+which he was unable to dispose; so he cut it off, tried out the grease
+in the frying-pan and used it to grease his boots.
+
+Old Bluford became a character in the country. He was, in fact, what is
+colloquially known as "an old poison oaker." This is an individual who
+sinks so low in the scale of civilization that he lives out in the
+backwoods or poison oak brush and becomes animal in type. His hair grew
+to his shoulders, his beard was unkempt, his finger nails were as long
+as claws and filthy with dirt. Rags of unknown antiquity partially
+covered his limbs, vermin infested his body and he stayed with the most
+degraded remnants of the Indians.
+
+One cold winter they found him dead in his dilapidated cabin. He lay on
+the dirt floor, his ragged coat over his face, his hands beneath his
+head, and two house cats lay frozen, one beneath each arm. These old
+pioneers were strange people and died strange deaths.
+
+In our plans to capture grizzlies we took into consideration the
+proclivity of this beast to attack. We knew his speed was tremendous.
+He is able to catch a horse or a dog on the run. Therefore, it is
+useless for a man to try to run away from him. There is no such thing
+as being able to climb a tree if the animal is at close quarters. Adams
+has shown that it is a mistake to attempt it. One only stretches
+himself out inviting evisceration in the effort.
+
+We decided if cornered either to dodge or to lie flat and feign death.
+So we practiced dodging, our running being more for the purpose of
+gaining endurance and to follow the bear if necessary.
+
+Ishi, the Yana Indian, said that grizzlies were to be overcome with
+arrows and if they charged, they were to be met with the spear and
+fire. So we constructed spears having well-tempered blades more than a
+foot in length set upon heavy iron tubing and riveted to strong ash
+handles six feet in length. Back of the blade we fashioned quick
+lighting torches of cotton waste saturated with turpentine. These could
+be ignited by jerking a lanyard fastened to a spring faced with
+sandpaper. The spring rested on the ends of several matches. It was an
+ingenious and reliable device.
+
+The Esquimaux used a long spear in hunting the polar bear. It was ten
+or twelve feet in length. After being shot with an arrow, if the bear
+charged, they rested the butt of the spear on the ground, lowered the
+point and let the bear impale himself on it.
+
+When the time came to use our weapons, Ned Frost dissuaded us from the
+attempt. He said that he once owned a pet grizzly and kept it fast with
+a long chain in the back yard. This bear was so quick that it could lie
+in its kennel, apparently asleep, and if a chicken passed within proper
+distance, with incredible quickness she reached out a paw and seized
+the chicken without the slightest semblance of effort. And when at
+play, the boys tried to stick the bear with a pitchfork, she would
+parry the thrusts and protect herself like a boxer. It was impossible
+to touch her.
+
+The fire, Frost thought, might serve at night, but in the daylight it
+would lose its effect. So he insisted that he would carry a gun to be
+used in case of attack. On our part, we stipulated that he was to
+resort to it only to prevent disaster and protested that such an
+exigency must be looked upon by us as a complete failure of our plans.
+We knew we could not stop the mad rush of a bear with our arrows, but
+we hoped to kill at least one by this means and compromise on the rest
+if necessary.
+
+Indians, besides employing the spear, poisoned arrows, and fire, also
+used protected positions, or shot from horseback. We scorned to shoot
+from a tree and were told that few horses could be ridden close enough,
+or fast enough, to get within bowshot of a grizzly.
+
+Inquiry among those qualified to know, led to the estimate of the
+number of all bears in the Park to be between five hundred and one
+thousand. Considering that there are some three thousand square miles
+of land, that there were nearly sixty thousand elk, besides hundreds of
+bison, antelope, mountain sheep, and similar animals, this does not
+seem improbable. I am aware that recent statements are to the effect
+that there were only forty grizzlies there. This is palpably an
+underestimate, and probably takes into account only those that frequent
+the dumps. Frost believes that there are several hundred grizzlies in
+the Park, many of which range out in the adjacent country. So we felt
+no fear of decimating their ranks, and had every hope of seeing many.
+In fact, their number has so increased in recent years that they have
+become a menace and require killing off.
+
+During the past five years four persons have either been mauled or
+killed by grizzlies in Yellowstone. One of these was a teamster by the
+name of Jack Walsh. He was sleeping under his wagon at Cold Springs
+when a large bear seized him by the arm, dragged him forth and ripped
+open his abdomen. Walsh died of blood poison and peritonitis a few days
+later. Frost himself was attacked. He was conducting a party of
+tourists through the preserve and had just been explaining to them
+around the camp-fire that there was no danger of bears. He slept in the
+tent with a horse wrangler by the name of Phonograph Jones. In the
+middle of the night a huge grizzly entered his tent and stepped on the
+head of Jones, peeling the skin off his face by the rough pressure of
+his paw. The man waked with a yell, whereupon the bear clawed out his
+lower ribs. The cry roused Frost, who having no firearms, hurled his
+pillow at the bear.
+
+With a roar, the grizzly leaped upon Ned, who dived into his sleeping
+bag. The animal grasped him by the thighs, and dragged him from the
+tent out into the forest, sleeping bag and all. As he carried off his
+victim, he shook him from side to side as a dog shakes a rat. Frost
+felt the great teeth settle down on his thigh bones and expected
+momentarily to have them crushed in the powerful jaws. In a thicket of
+jack pines over a hundred yards from camp, the bear shook him so
+violently that the muscles of the man's thighs tore out and he was
+hurled free from the bag. He landed half-naked in the undergrowth
+several yards away.
+
+While the frenzied bear still worried the bedding, Frost dragged
+himself to a near-by pine and pulled himself up in its branches by the
+strength of his arms.
+
+The camp was in an uproar; a huge fire was kindled; tin pans were
+beaten; one of the helpers mounted a horse and by circling around the
+bear, succeeded in driving him away.
+
+After first aid measures were administered, Frost was successfully
+nursed back to health and usefulness by his wife. But since that time
+he has an inveterate hatred of grizzlies, hunting them with grim
+persistency.
+
+It is said that nearly forty obnoxious grizzlies were shot by the Park
+rangers after this episode and Frost was given a permit to carry a
+weapon. We found later that he always went to sleep with a Colt
+automatic pistol strapped to his wrist.
+
+We planned to enter the Park in two parties. One, comprised of Frost,
+the cook, horse wrangler, my brother, and his friend, Judge Henry
+Hulbert, of Detroit, was to proceed from Cody and come with a pack
+train across Sylvan Pass. Our party consisted of Arthur Young and
+myself; Mr. Compton was unexpectedly prevented from joining us by
+sickness in his family. We were to journey by rail to Ashton. This was
+the nearest point to Yellowstone Station on the boundary of the
+reservation that could be reached by railroad in winter.
+
+We arrived at this point near the last of May 1920. The roads beyond
+were blocked with snow, but by good fortune, we were taken in by one of
+the first work trains entering the region through the personal interest
+and courtesy of the superintendent of the Pocatello division.
+
+We had shipped ahead of us a quantity of provisions and came outfitted
+only with sleeping bags, extra clothing, and our archery equipment.
+This latter consisted of two bows apiece and a carrying case containing
+one hundred and forty-four broad-heads, the finest assembly of bows and
+arrows since the battle of Crecy.
+
+Young had one newly made bow weighing eighty-five pounds and his
+well-tried companion of many hunts, Old Grizzly, weighing seventy-five
+pounds.
+
+He later found the heavier weapon too strong for him in the cold
+weather of the mountains, where a man's muscles stiffen and lose their
+power, while his bow grows stronger.
+
+My own bows were seventy-five pounds apiece--"Old Horrible," my
+favorite, a hard hitter and sweet to shoot, and "Bear Slayer," the
+fine-grained, crooked-limbed stave with which I helped to kill our
+first bear. Our arrows were the usual three-eighths birch shafts,
+carefully selected, straight and true. Their heads were tempered steel,
+as sharp as daggers. We had, of course, a few blunts and eagle arrows
+in the lot.
+
+In the Park we found snow deep on the ground and the roads but recently
+cleared with snow plows and caterpillar tractors. We traveled by auto
+to Mammoth Hot Springs and paid our respects to Superintendent
+Albright, and ultimately settled in a vacant ranger's cabin near the
+Canyon. Here we awaited the coming of the second party.
+
+Our entrance into the Park was well known to the rangers, who were
+instructed to give us all the assistance possible. This cabin soon
+became a rendezvous for them and our evenings were spent very
+pleasantly with stories and fireside music.
+
+After several days, word was sent by telephone that Frost and his
+caravan were unable to cross Sylvan Pass because of fifty feet of snow
+in the defile, and that he had returned to Cody where he would take an
+auto truck and come around to the northern entrance to the Park,
+through Gardner, Montana.
+
+At the expiration of three days he drove up to our cabin in a flurry of
+snow. This was about the last day in May.
+
+Frost himself is one of the finest of Western types; born and raised in
+the sage brush country, a hunter of big game ever since he was large
+enough to hold a gun. He was in the prime of life, a man of infinite
+resource, courage, and fortitude. We admired him immensely.
+
+With him he had a full camp outfit, selected after years of experience,
+and suited to any kind of weather.
+
+The party consisted of Art Cunningham, the cook; G.D. Pope, and Judge
+Henry Hulbert. Art came equipped with a vast amount of camp craft and
+cookery wisdom. My brother came to see the fun, the Judge to take
+pictures and add dignity to the occasion. All were seasoned woodsmen
+and hunters.
+
+We moved to more commodious quarters, a log cabin in the vicinity, made
+ourselves comfortable, and let the wind-driven snow pile deep drifts
+about our warm shelter while we planned a campaign against the
+grizzlies.
+
+So far, we had met few bears, and these were of the tourist variety.
+They had stolen bacon from the elevated meat safe, and one we found in
+the woods sitting on his haunches calmly eating the contents of a box
+of soda crackers. These were the hotel pets and were nothing more than
+of passing interest to us.
+
+Contrary to the usual condition, no grizzlies were to be seen. The only
+animals in evidence were a few half-starved elk that had wintered in
+the Park, marmots, and the Canadian jay birds.
+
+We began our hunts on foot, exploring Hayden Valley, the Sour Creek
+region, Mt. Washburn, and the headwaters of Cascade Creek.
+
+The ground was very wet in places and heavy with snow in the woods. It
+was necessary, therefore, to wear rubber pacs, a type of shoe well
+suited to this sort of travel.
+
+Our party divided into two groups, usually my brother and the Judge
+exploring in one direction while Young and I kept close at the heels of
+Frost. We climbed all the high ridges and swept the country with our
+binocular glasses. Prom eight to fourteen hours a day we walked and
+combed the country for bear signs.
+
+Our original plan was to bring in several decrepit old horses with the
+pack train and sacrifice them for bait. But because of the failure of
+this part of our program, we were forced to find dead elk for this
+purpose. We came across a number of old carcasses, but no signs that
+bear had visited them recently. Our first encounter with grizzly came
+on the fourth day. We were scouting over the country near Sulphur
+Mountain, when Frost saw a grizzly a mile off, feeding in a little
+valley. The snow had melted here and he was calmly digging roots in the
+soft ground. We signalled to our party and all drew together as we
+advanced on our first bear, keeping out of sight as we did so.
+
+We planned to go rapidly down a little cut in the hills and intercept
+him as he came around the turn. Progressing at a rapid pace, Indian
+file, we five hunters went down the draw, when suddenly our bear, who
+had taken an unexpected cut-off, came walking up the ravine. At a sign
+from Ned, we dropped to our knees and awaited developments. The bear
+had not seen us and the faint breeze blew from him to us. He was about
+two hundred yards off. We were all in a direct line, Frost ahead, I
+next, Young behind me, and the others in the rear. Our bows were braced
+and arrows nocked.
+
+Slowly the bear came feeding toward us. He dug the roots of white
+violets, he sniffed, he meandered back and forth, wholly unconscious of
+our presence. We hardly breathed. He was not a good specimen, rather a
+scrawny, long-nosed, male adolescent, but a real grizzly and would do
+as a starter.
+
+At last he came within fifty yards, stopped, pawed a patch of snow, and
+still we did not shoot. We could not without changing our position
+because we were all in one line. So we waited for his next move, hoping
+that he would advance laterally and possibly give us a broadside
+exposure.
+
+But he came onward, directly for us, and at thirty yards stopped to
+root in the ground again. I thought, "Now we must shoot or he will walk
+over us!" Just then he lifted his head and seemed to take an eyeful of
+Young's blue shirt. For one second he half reared and stared. I drew my
+bow and as the arrow left the string, he bounded up the hill. The
+flying shaft just grazed his shoulder, parting the fur in its course.
+Quick as a bouncing rubber ball, he leaped over the ground and as
+Young's belated arrow whizzed past him, he disappeared over the hill
+crest.
+
+We rose with a deep breath and shouted with laughter. Ned said that if
+it had not been for that blue shirt, the bear would have bumped into
+us. Well, we were glad we missed him, because after all, he was not the
+one we were looking for. It is a hard thing to pick grizzlies to order.
+You can't go up and inspect them ahead of time.
+
+This fiasco was just an encouragement to us, and we continued to rise
+by candle light and hunt till dark. The weather turned warmer, and the
+snow began to melt.
+
+At the end of the first week we saw five grizzlies way off in the
+distance at the head of Hayden Valley. They were three or four miles
+from us and evening was approaching, so we postponed an attack on them.
+Next morning, bright and early, we were on the ground again, hoping to
+see them. Sure enough, there they were! Ned, Art and I were together;
+my brother and the Judge were off scouting on the other side of the
+ridge. It was about half past eight in the morning. The bears, four in
+number this time, were feeding in the grassy marshland, about three
+miles up the valley. Ned's motto has always been: "When you see 'em, go
+and get 'em."
+
+We decided to attack immediately. Down the river bank, through the
+draws, up into the timber we circled at a trot. It was hard going, but
+we were pressed for time. At last we came out on a wooded point a
+quarter of a mile above the bears, and rested. We knew they were about
+to finish their morning feeding and go up into the forest to lay up for
+the day. So we watched them in seclusion.
+
+We waxed our bowstrings and put the finishing touches on our
+arrow-heads with a file.
+
+Slowly the bears mounted the foothills, heading for a large patch of
+snow, where Frost thought they would lie down to cool before entering
+the woods. It seems that their winter coat makes them very susceptible
+to heat, and though the sun had come out pleasantly for us, it was too
+hot for them. There was an old female and three half-grown cubs in
+their third year, all looking big enough for any museum group.
+
+At last they settled down and began to nuzzle the snow. The time had
+come for action. We proposed to slip down the little ravine at the edge
+of the timber, cross the stream, ascend the hill on the opposite side,
+and come up on our quarry over the crest. We should thus be within
+shooting distance. The wind was right for this maneuver, so we started
+at once.
+
+Now as I write my muscles quiver, my heart thumps and I flush with a
+strange feeling, thinking of that moment. Like a soldier before a
+battle, we waded into an uncharted experience. What does a man think of
+as he is about to enter his first grizzly encounter? I remember well
+what passed through my head: "Can we get there without alarming the
+brutes?" "How close will they be?" "Can we hit them?" "What will happen
+then?"
+
+Ned Frost, Young and I were to sneak up on four healthy grizzlies in
+the open, and pit our nerve against their savage reaction. Ned had his
+rifle, but this was to be used only as a last resort, and that might
+easily fail at such short range.
+
+As we walked rapidly, stepping with utmost caution, I answered all the
+questions of my subconscious fears. "Hit them? Why, we will soak them
+in the gizzard; wreck them!" "Charge? Let them come on and may the best
+man win!" "Die? There never was a fairer, brighter, better day to die
+on." In fact, "Lead on!" I felt absolutely gay. A little profanity or a
+little intellectual detachment at these times is of material help in
+the process of auto-suggestion.
+
+As for Young, he was silent, and possibly was thinking of camp
+flapjacks.
+
+Half way up the hill, on the opposite side of which lay our grizzlies,
+we stopped, braced our bows, took three arrows apiece from our quivers,
+and proceeded in a more stealthy approach.
+
+Young and I arranged ourselves on each side of Frost, abreast with him.
+Near the top Ned took out a green silk handkerchief and floated it in
+the gentle breeze to see if the wind had changed. If it had, we might
+find the bears coming over the top to meet us. Everything was perfect,
+so far! Now, stooping low we crept to the very ridge itself, to a spot
+directly above which we believed the bears to be. Laying our hats on
+the grass and sticking our extra arrows in the ground before us, we
+rose up, bows half drawn, ready to shoot.
+
+There on the snow, not over twenty-five yards off, lay four grizzly
+bears, just like so many hearth rugs.
+
+Instantly, I selected the farthest bear for my mark and at a signal of
+the eye we drew our great bows to their uttermost and loosed two deadly
+arrows.
+
+We struck! There was a roar, they rose, but instead of charging us,
+they rushed together and began such a fight as few men have seen. My
+bear, pinioned with an arrow in the shoulder, threw himself on his
+mother, biting her with savage fury. She in turn bit him in the bloody
+shoulder and snapped my arrow off short. Then all the cubs attacked
+her. The growls and bellowing were terrific.
+
+Quickly I nocked another arrow. The beasts were milling around
+together, pawing, biting, mad with rage. I shot at my bear and missed
+him. I nocked again. The old she-bear reared on her haunches, stood
+high above the circling bunch, cuffing and roaring, the blood running
+from her mouth and nostrils in frothy streams. Young's arrow was deep
+in her chest. I drove a feathered shaft below her foreleg.
+
+The confusion and bellowing increased, and, as I drew a fourth arrow
+from my quiver, I glanced up just in time to see the old female's hair
+rise on the back of her neck. She steadied herself in her wild hurtling
+and looked directly at us with red glaring eyes. She saw us for the
+first time! Instinctively I knew she would charge, and she did.
+
+Quick as thought, she bounded toward us. Two great leaps and she was on
+us. A gun went off at my ear. The bear was literally knocked head over
+heels, and fell in backward somersaults down the steep snowbank. At
+some fifty yards she checked her course, gathered herself, and
+attempted to charge again, but her right foreleg failed her. She rose
+on her haunches in an effort to advance, when, like a flash, two arrows
+flew at her and disappeared through her heaving sides. She faltered,
+wilted, and as we drew to shoot again, she sprawled out on the ground,
+a convulsed, quivering mass of fur and muscle--she was dead.
+
+The half grown cubs had disappeared at the boom of the gun. We saw one
+making off at a gallop, three hundred yards away. The glittering
+snowbank before us was vacant.
+
+The air seemed strangely still; the silence was oppressive. Our nervous
+tension exploded in a wave of laughter and exclamations of wonderment.
+Frost declared he had never seen such a spectacle in all his life; four
+grizzly bears in deadly combat; the din of battle; the wild bellowing;
+and two bowmen shooting arrow after arrow into this jumble of
+struggling beasts.
+
+
+[Illustration: OUR CAMP AT SQUAW LAKE, WYOMING]
+
+
+[Illustration: THE RESULT OF OUR FIRST ENCOUNTER WITH A CHARGING
+GRIZZLY BEAR]
+
+
+[Illustration: BRINGING HOME THE TROPHIES]
+
+
+The snow was trampled and soaked with blood as though there had been an
+Indian massacre. We paced off the distance at which the charging female
+had been stopped. It was exactly eight yards. A mighty handy shot!
+
+We went down to view the remains. Young had three arrows in the old
+bear, one deep in her neck, its point emerging back of the shoulder. He
+shot that as she came at us. His first arrow struck anterior to her
+shoulder, entered her chest, and cut her left lung from top to bottom.
+His third arrow pierced her thorax, through and through, and lay on the
+ground beside her with only its feathers in the wound.
+
+My first arrow cut below the diaphragm, penetrated the stomach and
+liver, severed the gall ducts and portal vein. My second arrow passed
+completely through her abdomen and lay on the ground several yards
+beyond her. It had cut the intestines in a dozen places and opened
+large branches of the mesenteric artery.
+
+The bullet from Frost's gun had entered at the right shoulder,
+fractured the humerus, blown a hole an inch in diameter in the chest
+wall, opened up a jagged hole in the trachea, and dissipated its energy
+in the left lung. No wound of exit was found, the soft nose
+copper-jacketed bullet apparently having gone to pieces after striking
+the bone.
+
+Anatomically speaking, it was an effective shot, knocked the bear down
+and crippled her, but was not an immediately fatal wound. We had her
+killed with arrows, but she did not know it. She undoubtedly would have
+been right on us in another second. The outcome of this hypothetical
+encounter I leave to those with vivid imaginations.
+
+We hereby express our gratitude to Ned Frost.
+
+Now one of us had to rush off and get the rest of the party. Judge
+Hulbert and my brother were in another valley in quest of bear. So Ned
+set off at a rapid tramp across the bogs, streams, and hills to find
+them. Within an hour they returned together to view the wreckage.
+Photographs were taken, the skinning and autopsy were performed. Then
+we looked around for the wounded cub. Frost trailed him by almost
+invisible blood stains and tracks, and found him less than a quarter of
+a mile away, huddled up as if asleep on the hillside, my arrow nestled
+to his breast. The broken shaft with its blade deep in the thorax had
+completely severed the head of his humerus, cut two ribs, and killed
+him by hemorrhage from the pulmonary arteries. Half-grown as he was, he
+would have made an ugly antagonist for any man.
+
+His mother, a fine mature lady of the old school, showed by her teeth
+and other lineaments her age and respectability. In autumn she would
+have weighed four or five hundred pounds. We weighed her in
+installments with our spring scales; she registered three hundred and
+five pounds. She was in poor condition and her pelt was not suitable
+for museum purposes. But these features could not be determined readily
+beforehand. The juvenile Ursus weighed one hundred and thirty-five
+pounds. We measured them, gathered their bones for the museum,
+shouldered their hides, and turned back to camp.
+
+That night Ned Frost said, "Boys, when you proposed shooting grizzly
+bears with the bow and arrow, I thought it a fine sporting proposition,
+but I had my doubts about its success. Now I know that you can shoot
+through and kill the biggest grizzly in Wyoming!"
+
+Our instructions on leaving California were to secure a large male
+_Ursus Horribilis Imperator_, a good representative female, and two or
+three cubs. The female we had shot filled the requirements fairly well,
+but the two-year-old cub was at the high school age and hardly cute
+enough to be admired. Moreover, no sooner had we sent the news of our
+first success to the Museum than we were informed that this size cub
+was not wanted and that we must secure little ones.
+
+So we set out to get some of this year's vintage in small bears.
+Ordinarily, there is no difficulty in coming in contact with bears in
+Yellowstone; in fact, it is more common to try to keep some of the
+hotel variety from eating at the same table with you. But not a single
+bear, black, brown, or silver-tipped, now called upon us. We traveled
+all over that beautiful Park, from Mammoth Hot Springs to the Lake. We
+hunted over every well-known bear district. Tower Falls, Specimen
+Ridge, Buffalo Corrals, Mt. Washburn, Dunraven Pass (under twenty-five
+feet of snow), Antelope Creek, Pelican Meadows, Cub Creek, Steamboat
+Point, and kept the rangers busy on the lookout for bear. From eight to
+fifteen hours a day we hunted. We walked over endless miles of
+mountains, climbed over countless logs, plowed through snow and slush,
+and raked the valleys with our field glasses.
+
+But bears were as scarce as hen's teeth. We saw a few tracks but
+nothing compared to those seen in other years.
+
+We began to have a sneaking idea that the bear had all been killed off.
+We knew they had been a pest to campers and were becoming a menace to
+human life. We suspected the Park authorities of quiet extermination.
+Several of the rangers admitted that a selective killing was carried
+out yearly to rid the preserve of the more dangerous individuals.
+
+Then the elk began to pour back into the Park; singly, in couples, and
+in droves they returned, lean and scraggly. A few began to drop their
+calves. Then we began to see bear signs. The grizzly follow the elk,
+and after they come out of hibernation and get their fill of green
+grass, they naturally take to elk calves. Occasionally they include the
+mother in the menu.
+
+We also began to follow the elk. We watched at bait. We sat up nights
+and days at a time, seeing only a few unfavorable specimens and these
+were as wild and as wary as deer. We found the mosquitoes more deadly
+than the bear. We tracked big worthy old boys around in circles and had
+various frustrated encounters with she-bears and cubs.
+
+Upon one occasion we were tracking a prospective specimen through the
+woods, proceeding with great caution, when evidently the beast heard
+us. Suddenly, he turned on his tracks and came on a dead run for us. I
+was in advance and instantly drew my bow, holding it for the right
+moment to shoot. The bear came directly in our front, not more than
+twenty yards away and being startled by the sight of us, threw his
+locomotive mechanism into reverse and skidded towards us in a cloud of
+snow and forest leaves. In the fraction of a second, I perceived that
+he was afraid and not a proper specimen for our use. I held my arrow
+and the bear with an indignant and disgusted look, made a precipitous
+retreat. It was an unexpected surprise on both sides.
+
+They say that the Indians avoided the Yellowstone region, thinking it a
+land of evil spirits. In our wanderings, however, we picked up on
+Steamboat Point a beautiful red chert arrow-head, undoubtedly shot by
+an Indian at elk years before Columbus burst in upon these good people.
+In Hayden Valley we found an obsidian spear head, another sign that the
+Indian knew good hunting grounds.
+
+But no Indian was ever so anxious to meet grizzly as we were. We hunted
+continually, but found none that suited us; we had to have the best.
+Frost assured us that we had made a mistake in ever trying to get
+grizzlies in the Park--and that in the time we spent there we could
+have secured all our required specimens in the game fields of Wyoming
+or Montana.
+
+A month passed; the bears were beginning to lose their winter coats;
+our party began to disintegrate. My brother and the Judge were
+compelled to return to Detroit. A week or so later Ned Frost and the
+cook were scheduled to take out another party of hunters from Cody and
+prepared to leave us. Young and I were determined to stick it out until
+the last chance was exhausted. We just had to get those specimens.
+
+Before Frost left us, however, he packed us up to the head of Cascade
+Creek with our bows and arrows, bed rolls, a tarpaulin, and a couple of
+boxes of provisions.
+
+We had received word from a ranger that a big old grizzly had been seen
+at Soda Butte and we prepared to go after him. At the last moment
+before departure, a second word came that probably this same bear had
+moved down to Tower Falls and was ranging between this point and the
+Canyon, killing elk around Dunraven Pass.
+
+Young and I scouted over this area and found diggings and his tracks.
+
+A good-sized bear will have a nine-inch track. This monster's was
+eleven inches long. We saw where he made his kills and used certain
+fixed trails going up and down the canyons.
+
+Frost gave us some parting advice and his blessing, consigned us to our
+fate, and went home.
+
+Left to ourselves, we two archers inspected our tackle and put
+everything in prime condition. Our bows had stood the many wettings
+well, but we oiled them again. New strings were put on and thoroughly
+waxed. Our arrows were straightened, their feathers dried and preened
+in the sun. The broad-heads were set on straight and sharpened to the
+last degree, and so prepared we determined to do our utmost. We were
+ready for the big fellow.
+
+In our reconnaissance we found that he was a real killer. His trail was
+marked by many bloody episodes. It seemed quite probable that he was
+the bear that two years before burst in upon a party of surveyors in
+the mountains and kept them treed all night. It is not unlikely that he
+was the same bear that caused the death of Jack Walsh. He seemed too
+expert in planning murder. We saw by his tracks how he lay in ambush
+watching a herd of elk, how he sneaked up on a mother elk and her
+recently born calf on the outskirts of the band, and with a great leap
+threw himself upon the two and killed them.
+
+In several places we saw the skins of these little wapiti licked clean
+and empty of bodily structure. No other male grizzly was permitted to
+enter his domain. He was, in fact, the monarch of the mountain, the
+great bear of Dunraven Pass.
+
+We pitched our little tent in a secluded wood some three miles from the
+lake at the head of Cascade Creek, and began to lay our plan of attack.
+We were by this time inured to fatigue and disappointment. Weariness
+and loss of sleep had produced a dogged determination that knew no
+relaxation. And yet we were cheerful. Young has that fine quality so
+essential to a hunting companion, imperturbable good nature, never
+complaining, no matter how heavy the load, how long the trail, how late
+or how early the hour, how cold, how hot, how little, or how poor the
+food.
+
+We were there to win and nothing else mattered. If it rained and we
+must wait, we took out our musical instruments, built up the fire and
+soothed our troubled souls with harmony. This is better than tobacco or
+whiskey for the purpose. In fact, Young is so abstemious that even tea
+or coffee seem a bit intemperate to him, and are only to be used under
+great physical strain; and as for profanity, why, I had to do all the
+swearing for the two of us.
+
+We were trained down to rawhide and sinew, keyed to alertness and ready
+for any emergency.
+
+Often in our wanderings at night we ran unexpectedly upon wild beasts
+in the dark. Some of these were bears. Our pocket flashlights were used
+as defensive weapons. A snort, a crashing retreat through the brush
+told us that our visitant had departed in haste, unable to stand the
+glaring light of modern science.
+
+We soon found that our big fellow was a night rover also, and visited
+his various kills under the cloak of darkness. In one particularly
+steep and rugged canyon, he crossed a little creek at a set place. Up
+on the side of this canyon he mounted to the plateau above by one of
+three possible trails. At the top within forty yards of one of these
+was a small promontory of rock upon which we decided to form a blind
+and await his coming. We fashioned a shelter of young jack pines,
+constructed like a miniature corral, less than three by six feet in
+area, but very natural in appearance. Between us and the trail was a
+quantity of down timber which we hoped would act as an impediment to an
+onrushing bear. And the perpendicular face of our outcropping elevated
+us some twelve or thirteen feet above the steep hillside. A small tree
+stood near our position and offered a possibility in case of attack.
+But we had long ago decided that no man can clamber up a tree in time
+to escape a grizzly charging at a distance less than fifty yards. We
+could be approached from the rear, but altogether it was an ideal
+ambush.
+
+The wind blew steadily up the canyon all night long and carried our
+scent away from the trail. Above us on the plateau was a recently
+killed elk which acted as a perpetual invitation to bears and other
+prowlers of the night.
+
+So we started watching in this blind, coming soon after dusk and
+remaining until sunrise. The nights were cold, the ground pitiless, and
+the moon, nearly at its full, crept low through a maze of mist.
+
+Dressed in our warmest clothing and permitting ourselves one blanket
+and a small piece of canvas, we huddled together in a cramped posture
+and kept vigil through the long hours. Neither of us smoked anyway, and
+of course, this was absolutely taboo; we hardly whispered, and even
+shifted our positions with utmost caution. Before us lay our bows ready
+strung, and arrows, both in the quiver belted upright to the screen and
+standing free close at hand.
+
+The first evening we saw an old she-bear and her two-year-old cubs come
+up the path. They passed us with that soft shuffling gait so uncanny to
+hear in the dark. We were delighted that they showed no sign of having
+detected us. But they were not suited to our purpose and we let them
+go. The female was homely, fretful and nervous. The cubs were yellow
+and ungainly. We looked for better things.
+
+Bears have personality, as obvious as humans. Some are lazy, some
+alert, surly, or timid. Nearly all the females we saw showed that
+irritability and irascible disposition that go with the cares of
+maternity. This family was decidedly commonplace.
+
+They disappeared in the gloom, and we waited and waited for the big
+fellow that some time must appear.
+
+But morning came first; we stole from our blind, chilled and stiffened,
+and wandered back to camp to breakfast and sleep. The former was a
+fairly successful event, but the latter was made almost impossible by
+the swarms of mosquitoes that beset us. A smudge fire and canvas
+head-coverings gave us only a partial immunity. By sundown we were on our
+way again to the blind, but another cold dreary night passed without
+adventure.
+
+On our way to camp in the dim light of early dawn, a land fog hung low
+in the valley. As we came up a rough path there suddenly appeared out
+of the obscurity three little bear cubs, not thirty-five yards away.
+They winded us, squeaked and stood on their hind legs, peering in our
+direction. We dropped like stones in our tracks, scarcely breathing,
+figuratively frozen to the ground, for instantly the fiercest-looking
+grizzly we ever saw bounded over the cubs and straddled them between
+her forelegs. Nothing could stop her if she came on. A little brush
+intervened and she could not locate us plainly for we could see her
+eyes wander in search of us; but her trembling muscles, the vicious
+champing of her jaws, and the guttural growls, all spoke of immediate
+attack. We were petrified. She wavered in her intent, turned, cuffed
+her cubs down the hill, snorted and finally departed with her family.
+
+We heaved a deep sigh of relief. But she was wonderful, she was the
+most beautiful bear we had ever seen; large, well proportioned, with
+dark brown hair having just a touch of silver. She was a patrician, the
+aristocrat of the species. We marked her well.
+
+Next day, just at sunset, we got our first view of the great bear of
+Dunraven Pass. He was coming down a distant canyon trail. He looked
+like a giant in the twilight. With long swinging strides he threw
+himself impetuously down the mountainside. Great power was in every
+movement. He was magnificent! He seemed as large as a horse, and had
+that grand supple strength given to no other predatory animal.
+
+Though we were used to bears, a strange misgiving came over me. We
+proposed to slay this monster with the bow and arrow. It seemed
+preposterous!
+
+In the blind another long cold night passed. The moon drifted slowly
+across the heavens and sank in a haze of clouds at daybreak. Just at
+the hush of dawn, the homely female and her tow-headed progeny came
+shuffling by. We were desperate for specimens, and one of these would
+match that which we already had. I drew up my bow and let fly a
+broad-head at one of the cubs. It struck him in the ribs. Precipitately,
+the whole band took flight. My quarry fell against an obstructing log and
+died. His mother stopped, came back several times, gazed at him
+pensively, then disappeared. We got out, carried him to a distant spot
+and skinned him. He weighed one hundred and twenty pounds. My arrow had
+shaved a piece off his heart. Death was instantaneous.
+
+We packed home the hind quarters and made a fine grizzly stew. Before
+this we had found that the old bears were tough and rancid, but the
+little ones were as sweet and tender as suckling pigs. This stew was
+particularly good, well seasoned with canned tomatoes and the last of
+our potatoes and onions. Sad to relate the better part of this savory
+pot next day was eaten by a wandering vagabond of the _Ursus_ family.
+Not content with our stew, he devoured all our sugar, bacon, and other
+foodstuffs not in cans, and wound up his debauch by wiping his feet on
+our beds and generally messing up the camp. Probably he was a regular
+camp thief.
+
+That night, early in the watch, we heard the worthy old boy come down
+the canyon, hot in pursuit of a large brown bear. As he ran, the great
+animal made quite a noise. His claws clattered on the rocks, and the
+ground seemed to shake beneath us. We shifted our bows ready for
+action, and felt the keen edge of our arrows. Way off in the forest we
+heard him tree the cowardly intruder with such growls and ripping of
+bark that one would imagine he was about to tear the tree down.
+
+After a long time he desisted and, grunting and wheezing, came slowly
+up the canyon. With the night glasses we could see him. He seemed to be
+considerably heated with his exercise and scratched himself against a
+young fir tree. As he stood on his hind legs with his back to the trunk
+and rubbed himself to and fro, the tree swayed like a reed; and as he
+lifted his nose I observed that it just touched one of the lower
+branches. In the morning, after he had gone and we were on our way to
+camp, we passed this very fir and stretching up on my tip toes, I could
+just touch the limb with my fingers. Having been a pole vaulter in my
+youth, I knew by experience that this measurement was over seven feet
+six inches. He was a real he-bear! We wanted him more than ever.
+
+The following day it rained--in fact, it rained nearly every day near
+the end of our stay; but this was a drenching that stopped at sunset,
+leaving all the world sweet and fragrant. The moon came out full and
+beautiful, everything seemed propitious.
+
+We went to the blind about an hour before midnight, feeling that surely
+this evening the big fellow would come. After two hours of frigidity
+and immobility, we heard the velvet footfalls of bear coming up the
+canyon. There came our patrician and her royal family. The little
+fellows pattered up the trail before their mother. They came within
+range. I signalled Young and we shot together at the cubs. We struck.
+There was a squeak, a roar, a jumble of shadowy figures and the entire
+flock of bears came tumbling in our direction.
+
+At that very moment the big grizzly appeared on the scene. There were
+five bears in sight. Turning her head from side to side, trying to find
+her enemy, the she-bear came towards us. I whispered to Young, "Shoot
+the big fellow." At the same time, I drew an arrow to the head, and
+drove it at the oncoming female. It struck her full in the chest. She
+reared; threw herself sidewise, bellowed with rage, staggered and fell
+to the ground. She rose again, weakened, stumbled forward, and with
+great gasps she died. In less than half a minute it was all over. The
+little ones ran up the hill past us, one later returned and sat up at
+its mother's head, then disappeared in the dark forever.
+
+While all this transpired, the monster grizzly was romping back and
+forth in the shaded forest not more than sixty-five yards away. With
+deep booming growls like distant thunder, he voiced his anger and
+intent to kill. As he flitted between the shadows of the trees, the
+moonlight glinted on his massive body; he was enormous.
+
+Young discharged three arrows at him. I shot two. We should have
+landed, he was so large. But he galloped off and I saw my last arrow at
+the point blank range of seventy-five yards, fall between his legs. He
+was gone. We thought we had missed the beast and grief descended heavy
+upon us. The thought of all the weary days and nights of hunting and
+waiting, and now to have lost him, was very painful.
+
+After our palpitating hearts were quiet and the world seemed peaceful,
+we got out of our blind and skinned the female by flashlight. She was a
+magnificent specimen, just right in color and size for the Museum, not
+fat, but weighing a trifle over five hundred pounds. My arrow had
+severed a rib and buried its head in her heart. We measured her and
+saved her skull and long bones for the taxidermist.
+
+At daybreak we searched for the cubs and found one dead under a log
+with an arrow through his brain. The others had disappeared.
+
+We had no idea that we hit the great bear, but just to gather up our
+shafts, we went over the ground where he had been.
+
+One of Young's arrows was missing!
+
+That gave us a thrill; perhaps we had hit him after all! We went
+further in the direction he had gone; there was a trace of blood.
+
+We trailed him. We knew it was dangerous business. Through clumps of
+jack pines we cautiously followed, peering under every pile of brush
+and fallen tree. Deep into the forest we tracked him, where his bloody
+smear was left upon fallen logs. Soon we found where he had rested.
+Then we discovered the fore part of Young's arrow. It had gone through
+him. There was a pool of blood. Then we found the feathered butt which
+he had drawn out with his teeth.
+
+Four times he wallowed down in the mud or soft earth to rest and cool
+his wound. Then beneath a great fir he had made a bed in the soft loam
+and left it. Past this we could not track him. We hunted high and low,
+but no trace of him could we find. Apparently he had ceased bleeding
+and his footprints were not recorded on the stony ground about. We made
+wide circles, hoping to pick up his trail. We searched up and down the
+creek. We cross-cut every forest path and runway, but no vestige
+remained.
+
+
+
+[Illustration: LOOKING FOR GRIZZLIES ON CUB CREEK]
+
+
+[Illustration: THE TREE THAT NED FROST CLIMBED TO ESCAPE DEATH]
+
+
+[Illustration: MY FEMALE GRIZZLY AND THE ARROW THAT KILLED HER]
+
+
+[Illustration: ARTHUR YOUNG SLAYS THE MONARCH OF THE MOUNTAINS]
+
+
+He was gone. We even looked up in the tree and down in the ground where
+he had wallowed. For five hours we searched in vain, and at last, worn
+with disappointment and fatigue, we lay down and slept on the very spot
+where he last stopped.
+
+Near sundown we awoke, ate a little food, and started all over again to
+find the great bear. We retraced our steps and followed the fading
+evidence till it brought us again to the pit beneath the fir tree. He
+must be near. It was absolutely impossible for any animal to have lost
+so much blood and travel more than a few hundred yards past this spot.
+We had explored the creek bottom and the cliffs above from below, and
+we now determined to traverse every foot of the rim of the canyon from
+above. As we climbed over the face of the rock we saw a clot of dried
+blood. We let ourselves down the sheer descent, came upon a narrow
+little ledge, and there below us lay the huge monster on his back,
+against a boulder, cold and stiff, as dead as Cesar. Our hearts nearly
+burst with happiness.
+
+There lay the largest grizzly bear in Wyoming, dead at our feet. His
+rugged coat was matted with blood. Well back in his chest the arrow
+wound showed clear. I measured him; twenty-six inches of bear had been
+pierced through and through. One arrow killed him. He was tremendous.
+His great wide head; his worn, glistening teeth; his massive arms; his
+vast, ponderous feet and long curved claws; all were there. He was a
+wonderful beast. It seemed incredible. I thumped Young on the shoulder:
+"My, that was a marvelous shot!"
+
+We started to skin our quarry. It was a stupendous job, as he weighed
+nearly one thousand pounds, and lay on the steep canyon side ready to
+roll on and crush us. But with ropes we lashed him by the neck to a
+tree and split him up the back, later box-skinning the legs according
+to the method required by the museum.
+
+By flashlight, acetylene lamp, candle light, fire light and moonlight,
+we labored. We used up all our knives, and having neglected to bring
+our whet-stones, sharpened our blades on the volcanic boulders, about
+us. By assiduous industry for nine straight hours, we finished him
+after a fashion. His skin was thick and like scar tissue. His meat was
+all tendons and gristle. The hide was as tight as if glued on.
+
+In the middle of the night we stopped long enough to broil some grizzly
+cub steaks and brew a pot of tea; then we went at it again.
+
+As we dismembered him we weighed the parts. The veins were absolutely
+dry of blood, and without this substance, which represents a loss of
+nearly 10 per cent of his weight, he was nine hundred and sixteen
+pounds. There was hardly an inch of fat on his back. At the end of the
+autumn this adipose layer would be nearly six inches thick. He would
+then have weighed over fourteen hundred pounds. He stood nearly four
+feet high at the shoulders, while his skull measured eighteen and a
+half inches long; his entire body length was seven feet four inches.
+
+As we cleaned his bones we hurled great slabs of muscle down the
+canyon, knowing from experience that this would be a sign for all other
+bears to leave the vicinity. Only the wolves and jays will eat grizzly
+meat.
+
+At last we finished him, as the sun rose over the mountain ridges and
+gilded all the canyon with glory. We cleaned and salted the pelts,
+packed them on our backs, and, dripping with salt brine and bear
+grease, staggered to the nearest wagon trail. The hide of the big bear,
+with unskinned paws and skull, weighed nearly one hundred and fifty
+pounds.
+
+We cached our trophies, tramped the weary miles back to camp, cleaned
+up, packed and wandered to the nearest station, from which we ordered a
+machine. When this arrived we gathered our belongings, turned our
+various specimens over to a park ranger, to be given the final
+treatments, and started on our homeward trip.
+
+We were so exhausted from loss of sleep, exertion and excitement, that
+we sank into a stupor that lasted almost the entire way home.
+
+The California Academy of Sciences now has a handsome representative
+group of _Ursus Horribilis Imperator_. We have the extremely
+satisfactory feeling that we killed five of the finest grizzly bear in
+Wyoming. The sport was fair and clean, and we did it all with the bow
+and arrow.
+
+
+
+
+XV
+
+
+ALASKAN ADVENTURES
+
+
+It seems as if Fate had chosen my hunting companion, Arthur Young, to
+add to the honor and the legends of the bow. At any rate it fell to his
+lot to make two trips to Alaska between the years 1922 and 1925.
+
+He and his friend, Jack Robertson, were financed in a project to
+collect moving-picture scenes of the Northland.
+
+They were instructed to show the country in all its seasonal phases, to
+depict the rivers, forests, glaciers and mountains, particularly to
+record the summer beauties of Alaska. The animal life was to be
+featured in full:--fish, birds, small game, caribou, mountain sheep,
+moose and bear, all were to be captured on the celluloid film, and with
+all this a certain amount of hunting with the bow was to be included
+and the whole woven into a little story of adventure.
+
+Equipped with cameras, camp outfit and archery tackle, they sailed for
+Seward. From here they ventured into the wilderness as circumstances
+directed. Sometimes they went by boat to Kadiac Island, sometimes to
+the Kenai Peninsula, or they journeyed by dog sleds and packs inland.
+They spent the better part of two years in this hard, exacting work,
+often carrying as much as a hundred pounds on their backs for many
+miles. Great credit must be given to Art's partner Jack Robertson, for
+his energy, bravery and fortitude. His work with the camera will make
+history, but for the time being we shall focus our attention on the man
+with the bow. Only a small portion of Young's time was devoted to
+hunting, the exigencies incidental to travel and gathering animal
+pictures were such that archery was of secondary importance.
+
+He hunted and shot ptarmigan, some on the wing; he added grouse and
+rabbit meat to the scant larder of their "go light" outfit. He shot
+graylings and salmon in the streams. He could easily have killed
+caribou because they operated close to vast herds of these foolish
+beasts. However, at the time it seemed that there was no hurry about
+the matter; they had meat in camp, and pictures were of greater
+interest just then. They expected to see plenty of these animals.
+Strangely enough the herd suddenly left the country and no further
+opportunity presented itself for shooting them. This was no great
+disappointment because the sport was too easy. What did seem worth
+while was the killing of the great Alaskan moose. These beasts are the
+largest game animal on this continent, with the exception of the almost
+extinct bison.
+
+Young had his first chance at moose while on the Kenai Peninsula. Here
+the boys were camped and having finished his camera work Art took a day
+off to hunt.
+
+In the afternoon he discovered a large old bull lying down in a
+burnt-over area, where approach by stealth was possible, so he began
+his stalk with utmost caution, paying particular attention to scent and
+sound. By crawling on his hands and knees he came within a hundred and
+fifty yards, when his progress was stopped by a fallen tree. To go
+around it, would expose him to vision; to climb over, would alarm the
+animal by snapping twigs; so Young decided to dig under. He worked with
+his hunting knife and hands for one hour to accomplish this operation.
+When he had passed this obstacle he continued his crawling till he
+reached a distance of sixty yards. At this stage Art called the old
+bull with a birch bark horn, then the moose heard him and stood up. The
+brush was so thick that he could not shoot immediately, but waited as
+the old bull circled to catch his wind and answered the challenge. When
+he presented a fair target at seventy yards or so, Art drove an arrow
+at him. It struck deep in the flank, up to the feather ranging forward.
+The bull was only startled a trifle and trotted off a hundred yards.
+Here he stopped to look and listen. Young drew his bow again, and
+overshooting his mark, his arrow struck one of the broad thick palms of
+the antlers. The point pierced the two inches of bone and wedged tight,
+making a sharp report as it hit. This started the animal off at a fast
+trot. Young followed slowly at some distance and soon had the
+satisfaction of seeing the moose waver in his course and lie down.
+After a reasonable wait the hunter advanced to his quarry and found him
+dead. The triumph of such an episode is more or less mixed with misery.
+The pleasure undoubtedly would have been greater had some other lusty
+bow man been with him, but as it was he had to feast his eyes alone,
+moreover he had to make his way back to camp, which was some eight
+miles off, and night rapidly coming on.
+
+
+[Illustration: BULL MOOSE BAGGED ON THE KENAI PENINSULA]
+
+
+This part of the story was just as thrilling to Art, because he must
+stumble through the rough land of "little sticks" in the dark with the
+constant apprehension of meeting some unwelcome Alaska brown bear,
+which were thick there, and also the extremely unpleasant experience of
+running into dead trees, tripping over fallen limbs and dropping into
+gullies. He reached camp ultimately, I believe. Next day he returned
+with his companion for meat, his antler trophy and the picture, which
+we present.
+
+This bull weighed approximately sixteen hundred pounds and had a spread
+of sixty inches across its antlers.
+
+Upon the second expedition a year later, Young bagged another moose.
+Here the arrow penetrated both sides of the chest and caused almost
+instant death, showing that size is not a hindrance to a quick exodus.
+
+It is surprising even to us to see the extreme facility with which an
+arrow can interrupt the essential physiological processes of life and
+destroy it. We have come to the belief that no beast is too tough or
+too large to be slain by an arrow. With especially constructed heads
+sharpened to the utmost nicety, I have shot through a double thickness
+of elephant hide, two inches of cardboard, a bag of shaving and gone
+into an inch of wood. We feel sure that having penetrated the hide of a
+pachyderm his ribs can easily be severed and the heart or pulmonary
+cavity entered. Any considerable incision of either of these vital
+areas must soon cause death. And this is a field experiment which we
+propose to try in the near future.
+
+There is a legitimate excuse for shooting animals such as moose, where
+food is a problem and the bow bears an honorable part in the episode.
+We feel moreover that by using the bow on this large game we are
+playing ultimately for game preservation. For by shaming the "mighty
+hunter" and his unfair methods in the use of powerful destructive
+agents, we feel that we help to develop better sporting ethics.
+
+It was partly on this account, and partly to answer the dare of those
+who have said, "You may hunt the tame bears of California and Wyoming,
+but you cannot fool with the big Kadiac bears of Alaska with your
+little bow and arrow," that Young determined to go after these monsters
+and see if they were as fierce and invulnerable as claimed. At the
+present writing we who shoot the bow have slain more than a dozen bears
+with our shafts, but the mighty Kadiac brown grizzly has laughed at us
+from his frozen lair--as the literary nature fakir might say--we have
+been told that all that is necessary if you wish to meet a brownie, is
+to give him your address in Alaska and he will look you up. Also we
+have been told that once insulted he will tear a house down to "get
+even with you,"--so I shook Art's hand good-bye, when he started on
+this Kadiac escapade, and told him to "give 'em hell."
+
+After a long time he came back to San Francisco, and this is the story
+he told me--and Art has no guile in his system but is as straight as a
+bowstring.
+
+"We made a false start in going after our bears. We took a boat from
+Seward and sailed to Seldie, then to Kenai Peninsula. Here we hunted
+for two solid weeks and found practically no signs of brownies.
+
+"I decided at the end of this period to waste no more time, but to pull
+out of the country and sail back to Seward. We had but a short time to
+complete our picture before the last boat left the Arctic waters, but
+hearing of good bear signs on Kadiac Island we hit out for this place
+and landed in Uganik Bay. Here in the Long Arm, we found a country with
+many streams flowing down from the mountains which constitute this
+Island, and much small timber in combination with open grassy glades. A
+type of country that is particularly suited for photographic work and
+bow hunting.
+
+"After several days' exploring we discovered that the bears were
+catching salmon in the streams and we were successful in photographing
+as many as seven grizzlies at once. We took pictures of the bears
+wading in the water looking for fish. Usually the bear slaps the salmon
+out of the stream, then goes up on the bank and eats it. The "humpies"
+were so plentiful here, however, that they were tossed out on the bank,
+but not eaten, the bear preferring to capture one while in the water
+then wade about on his hind legs while he held the fish in his arms and
+devoured it.
+
+"We got all this and many comic antics of young bears climbing trees
+and playing about by using a telephoto lens. After the camera man was
+satisfied I proposed that we 'pull off' a 'stunt' with the bow.
+
+"By good fortune we saw four bears coming down the mountain side to
+fish. They were making their way slowly through an open valley. The
+camera was stationed at a commanding point and I ran up a dry wash
+thickly grown with willow and alder to head off the bears. I was able
+to get within a hundred yards by use of the willow cover, then the
+brush became too thin to hide me, so I walked boldly out into the open
+to meet the bears. I practically invited them to charge since they were
+reputed to be so easily insulted. At first they paid little attention
+to me, then the two in advance sat up on their haunches in astonishment
+and curiosity. I approached to a distance of fifty yards, then the
+largest brownie began champing his jaws and growling; then he 'pinned
+back his ears' preparing to come at me. Just as he was about to lunge
+forward I shot him in the chest. The arrow went deep and stuck out a
+foot beyond his shoulder. He dropped on all fours and before he could
+make up his mind what hit him, I shot him again in the flank. This
+turned him and feeling himself badly wounded he wheeled about and ran.
+While this was going on an old female also stood in a menacing
+attitude, but as the wounded bear galloped past her, she came to the
+ground and ran diagonally from us. All of them followed suit, and as
+they swept out of the field of vision the wounded bear weakened and
+fell less than a hundred yards from the camera.
+
+"True to his standards the camera man continued to grind out the film
+to the very last, so the whole picture is complete. You will see it
+some day for yourself and it will answer all doubts about the
+invulnerable status of the Kadiac bears."
+
+Young himself was not particularly elated over this conquest. He knew
+long ago that the Kadiac bear was no more formidable than the grizzlies
+we had slain and he only undertook this adventure for show purposes.
+Moreover though he used his heavy osage orange bow and usual
+broad-heads, he declares that he believes he can kill the largest bear
+in Alaska with a fifty pound weapon and proportionately adjusted
+arrows. Both Young and I are convinced of the necessity of very sharp
+broad-heads, and trust more to a keen blade and a quick flight than to
+power.
+
+
+[Illustration: THE GREAT KADIAK BEAR BROUGHT LOW]
+
+
+During his Alaskan travels Art preferred his Osage bows to the yew.
+They stood being dragged over rocks and falling down mountain sides
+better than the softer yew wood. His three bows were under five feet
+six inches in length, short for convenience and each pulled over
+eighty-five pounds. The country in which he worked was so rocky that it
+was most disastrous on arrows, and every shot that missed meant a
+shattered shaft.
+
+Possibly his roughest trip was one taken to picture mountain goats.
+Here a funny incident occurred. Jack and Art were stalking a herd of
+these wary creatures with the camera when suddenly around a point of
+rock the whole band of goats appeared. Art was ahead and had only just
+time enough to duck down on his hands and knees and hide his face close
+to the ground. He stayed so still that the entire flock passed close by
+him almost touching his body, while the camera man did his work from a
+concealed ledge higher up. Though Young counts it little to his credit,
+he shot one of these male goats, which was poised on so precipitous a
+point that it fell over and over down the mountain side and was lost as
+a trophy and as camp meat. Humiliating as such an episode may be, it
+serves, however, to add a coup to the archer's count. And there we let
+the matter rest.
+
+But what is of greater interest is his outwitting a Rocky Mountain Big
+Horn. This animal is considered the greatest game trophy in America. It
+is an extremely alert sheep, all eyes and wisdom. If you expose
+yourself but a second, though you be a mile away from the ram, probably
+you will be seen. And though the sheep may not move while you look at
+him, he is gone when you have completed your toilsome climb and peer
+over the last ledge of rock preparatory to shooting. Ned Frost used to
+say that when he hunted Big Horns he paid no attention to hearing or
+smell, but he was so careful about sight, that when he raised his head
+cautiously over a ridge to observe the sheep, he always lifted a stone
+and peered underneath it, or picked up a bunch of grass and gazed
+through it.
+
+Most hunters are content to stalk this game within three or four
+hundred yards, then aim at it with telescopic sights. It is the last
+word in good hunting.
+
+Stewart Edward White, the author and big game hunter, has said that the
+following experience is one of the finest demonstrations of stalking
+and understanding of animal psychology he knows.
+
+Up near the head of Wood River, Young and his party came on a number of
+Big Horn Sheep and first devoted several days to film work. Then Young
+decided to try for a trophy with the bow. After hunting all morning he
+discovered with his glasses a ram a long way off.
+
+The country was open and had no cover. The ram was resting on a ledge
+of rock elevated above the level of the valley. Even at a distance of
+half a mile it was evident to Art that the ram had seen him, so Young
+studied the sheep and the country carefully before deciding what plan
+to pursue.
+
+From the lay of the land it was plain that no concealment was possible
+and no detour or ambush could be employed. The glasses showed that the
+ram was a fairly old specimen and had a very sophisticated look. In
+fact, to Art he looked conceited and had an expression that said:
+"There is a man, but I am a pretty wise old sheep; I know all about
+men; that fellow hasn't seen me yet and when he does, there is plenty
+of open country back of me; my best plan is to lie still and let this
+tenderfoot pass." So he went on ruminating and blinking at the sun.
+
+Taking this mental attitude into consideration, Young decided that the
+best method of outwitting this particular sheep was to take him at his
+own valuation and proceed as a tenderfoot down the valley. So he walked
+unconcernedly along at an oblique angle to the sheep and never once
+taking a direct look at him. He went gaily along whistling, kicking
+pebbles and swinging his bow. When he had reached a distance of two or
+three hundred yards the old sheep lifted up his head to see what was
+going on. Young paid no attention to him, though he observed him out of
+the corner of his eyes. So the wise old boy settled back content with
+his diagnosis.
+
+Art walked along as innocently as ever. When he was a hundred and fifty
+yards off, the ram raised his head again and took a longer observation.
+He seemed to be changing his mind. Young said to himself, "He will take
+one more look, then he will go. Now is the time to act." So nocking an
+arrow on the string he ran at full speed directly at the sheep, and
+when half way he saw the tip of his horns rise above the ledge and knew
+it was time to stop. He came to his shooting pose and waited, the arrow
+half drawn. Sure enough! Out walked the old fellow to the very edge of
+the parapet and gazed over. Off flew the arrow and in the twilight it
+was lost to vision, but he heard it strike and saw the ram wheel in
+flight. As it disappeared over the ridge Art followed at a run;
+reaching the top he peered cautiously about and saw the sheep at no
+great distance standing still with its legs spread wide apart. He knew
+by the posture that it was done for. So he went back to the valley and
+because of the distance from camp and the oncoming darkness he made a
+fire and "Siwashed it" or camped out in the open all night without
+blankets. In the morning he went after his trophy and found it near the
+spot last seen. It was a fine specimen. The arrow had pierced it from
+front to rear completely through and was lost; a center shot at eighty
+yards; a most remarkable bit of archery and hunting stratagem. This
+head now decorates the dining room of the Young home in San Francisco.
+Unfortunately the moose antlers were cached near a river in Alaska and
+an unprecedented flood carried them out to sea.
+
+While speaking of Alaskan rivers there recurs to my mind a most
+remarkable incident related by Young. In one picture required for their
+film it was necessary to show a canoe in the course of construction,
+the subsequent use of this vessel and an upset in the turbulent waters
+of the river. To represent his bow in its canvas case, and still to
+spare that weapon a wetting, Young went down the river bank to pick out
+a stick about the same size to put in his bow case. Taking the first
+piece that came to hand he started to place it in the case, when struck
+by its smoothness he looked at it and found he had a weatherbeaten old
+Indian bow in his hand. It seemed like a sign, a good omen,--for we
+playfully indulge in omens in these romantic adventures with the bow.
+
+
+[Illustration: ARTHUR YOUNG OUTWITS THE ALASKA BIGHORN]
+
+
+Studying this implement later I found it apparently to be a birch Urock
+bow, some five feet long, having nocks and a place for the usual
+perpendicular piece of wood bound on at the handle to check the string.
+It would have pulled about sixty pounds, good enough for caribou
+hunting.
+
+And so in brief are the adventures of Art Young in Alaska.
+
+But who can speak of the adventures in the heart of our archer? Here is
+no common hunter, no insensate slayer of animals. Here we have the poet
+afoot,--the archaic adventurer in modern game fields; the champion of
+fair play and clean sport; all that is strong and manly.
+
+I take off my hat to Arthur Young.
+
+
+
+
+A CHAPTER OF ENCOURAGEMENT
+
+BY
+
+STEWART EDWARD WHITE
+
+
+No one can read Dr. Pope's book without an appreciation of the romance
+and charm of the long bow and the broad-head arrow. And no one can
+doubt that the little group of which he writes has proved that the
+thing can be done. Its members have brought to bag quantities of small
+game, unnumbered deer, mountain goat, big horn sheep, moose, caribou,
+thirteen black bears, six grizzlies, and one monster Kadiak bear. That
+point it proved beyond doubt. But, each will ask; how about it for me?
+These men are experts. It all looks very fascinating; but what chance
+have I?
+
+That, I believe, is the first reaction of the average man after he has
+savored the real literary charm of this book and begins to consider the
+practical side of the question. It was my own reaction. Fortunately, I
+live within commuting distance of Dr. Pope, so I have been able to
+resolve my doubts--slowly. My purpose is here to summarize what I found
+out.
+
+In the first place, the utter beginner has in his hands a weapon that
+is adequate and humane. A bad rifle shot or a bad shotgun shot can and
+does "slobber" his game by hitting it in the wrong places or with the
+outer fringe of his pattern. But if an arrow can be landed anywhere in
+the body it is certain and prompt death. This is not only true of the
+chest cavity, but of the belly; and every rifleman knows that a bullet
+in the latter is ineffective and cruel, and a beast so wounded is
+capable of long distances before it dies. The arrow's deadliness
+depends not on its shocking power, which of course is low, but upon
+internal hemorrhage and the very peculiar fact that the admission of
+air in quantity into any part of the body cavity collapses the lungs.
+Furthermore, again unlike the bullet, the broad arrow seems to be as
+effective at the limit of its longest flight as at the nearer ranges.
+So the amateur bowman, suitably armed, may lay this much of comfort to
+his soul: if by the grace of Robin Hood and the little capricious gods
+of luck he does manage to stray a shaft into a beast, it is going to do
+the trick for him. And of course if he keeps on shooting arrows in the
+general direction of game, the doctrine of chances will land him sooner
+or later!
+
+In the meantime--and here is the second point--he is going to have an
+enormous amount of enjoyment from his "close misses." With firearms a
+miss is a miss, and catastrophic. You have failed, and that is all
+there is to it; and you have no earthly means of knowing whether your
+miss was by the scant quarter inch that fairly ruffled the beast's
+crest, or by the disgraceful yards of buck ague or the jerking
+forefinger or the blinking dodging eye. But the beautiful clean flight
+of the arrow can be followed. And when it passes between the neck and
+the bend of wing of wild goose; or it buries its head in the damp earth
+only just below the body line of the unstartled deer, the bowman
+experiences quite as keen a thrill of satisfaction as follows a good
+center with gun or rifle,--even though the game is as scathless as
+though he had missed it by miles. In this type of hunting a miss is
+emphatically _not_ as good as a mile! And the chances are he can try
+again, and yet again, provided nothing else has occurred to affright
+his quarry. To most animals the flight of an arrow is little more than
+the winging past of some strange swift bird.
+
+Thus the joy is not primarily in the size of the bag, nor even in the
+certainty of the bag, but in the woodcraft and the outguessing, and the
+world of little things one must notice to get near enough for his shot,
+and the birds and the breezes and the small matters along the way;
+which is as it should be: and the satisfaction is not wholly centered
+in merely a shot well placed and a trophy quickly come by. Indeed, the
+latter is become almost an incidental; a very welcome and inspiriting
+incidental; a wonderful culmination; but a culmination that is
+necessary only occasionally as a guerdon of emprise rather than an
+invariably indispensability, lacking which the whole expedition must be
+classed as a failure.
+
+At first the seasoned marksman will doubt this. I can only recommend a
+fair trial. One of the most successful experiences of my sporting life
+was one of these "close misses." A very noble buck, broadside on, was
+trotting head up across my front and down a mountain slope nearly a
+hundred and fifty yards away,--out of reasonable range as archers count
+distances. I made my calculations as well as I could and loosed a
+shaft, more in honor of his wide branching antlers than in any sure
+hope. While the arrow was in the air the deer stopped short and looked
+at me. The shaft swept down its long curve and shattered its point
+against a rock at just the right height and about six feet in front of
+the beast. If he had continued his trot, it would have pierced his
+heart. Nothing was the worse for that adventure except the broad-head,
+which was gladly offered to the kindly gods who had so gratifyingly
+watched for me its straight true flight. And I had just as much
+satisfaction from the episode as though I had actually slain the
+deer,--and had had to cut it up and carry it into camp. This would not
+have been true with a rifle. At any range of the bullet's effectiveness
+I should have expected of myself a hit, and a miss would have hugely
+disappointed me with myself and ruined temporarily my otherwise sweet
+disposition.
+
+But even acknowledging all this, the fact indubitably remains that one
+must occasionally get results, one must occasionally _expect_ to get
+results, in order to retain interest. Even though one goes forth boldly
+to slay the bounding roebuck and brings back but the lowly jackrabbit,
+he must once in a blue moon be assured of the jackrabbit. And he must
+get the jackrabbit, not merely through the personal interposition of
+the little gods who preside at roulette tables, but because his bow arm
+held true and his release sweet and the shaft true sped.
+
+All this is perfectly possible. Any man can within a reasonable time
+become a reasonably good shot if he has the persistence to practice,
+and the patience to live through the first discouragements, and the
+ability to get some fun along the way. The game in its essentials seems
+to me a good deal like golf. It has a definite technique of a number of
+definite elements which must coordinate. When that technique is working
+smoothly results are certain. Like golf a man knows just what he is to
+do; only he cannot make himself do it! As the idea gets grooved in his
+brain, the swing--or the release and the hold,--become more and more
+automatic. But always there will be "on" days when he will shoot a par:
+and "off" days when both ball and shaft fly on the wings of
+contrariness.
+
+Of all the qualities above mentioned, I think for the beginner the most
+important is to cherish confident hope through the early
+discouragements. For a long time there seems to be no improvement
+whatever. And there is not improvement as far as score-results go. But
+the man who studies to perfect the elements of his technique, and is
+not merely shooting arrows promiscuously, is actually improving for all
+that. He must strive to remember that not only is each and every point
+important in itself, but that all must coordinate, must be working well
+together. No matter how crisp the release, it avails not an [sic]
+the bow arm falter or the back muscles relax. Again like golf, one day
+one thing will be working well, and another day another; but it is only
+when they are _all_ working well that the ball screams down the fairway
+or the arrow consistently finds its mark. Thus the beginner, practise
+as thoughtfully as he may, will for a time, perhaps a month or so, find
+little or no encouragement in the accuracy of his shaft's flight. This
+is the period when most men, who have started out enthusiastically
+enough, give up in disgust. Then all at once the persistent ones will
+begin to pick up. It is a good deal like dropping stones in a pool. One
+can drop in a great many stones without altering the surface of the
+water; but there comes a time when the addition of a single pebble
+shows results.
+
+In his chapter on Shooting the Bow, Dr. Pope has most adequately
+outlined the technique. If the beginner will do what the doctor there
+tells him to do, he will shoot correctly. Nevertheless he will find it
+necessary to find out for himself just _how_ he is going to do these
+things. It is largely a matter of getting the proper mental picture,
+and finding out how one feels when he is doing the right thing. Each
+probably gets an entirely individual mental image. Nevertheless a few
+hints from the beginner's standpoint may come gracefully from one who
+only yesterday was a beginner, and who today has struggled but little
+beyond the first marker post of progress.
+
+The target game and the hunting game differ somewhat, but the actual
+technique of releasing the arrow is the same in both. I strongly advise
+the use of a regulation target at regulation distances for at least
+half of one's practice. There is an inexorable quality about the
+painted rings. One cannot jolly oneself into a belief of a "pretty good
+one!" as one does when the roving arrow comes close to the little bush.
+Those rings are spaced in very definite inches! Even when one has
+graduated into a fairly hopeful hunting field, one returns every once
+in a while to the target to check himself up, to find out what he is
+doing wrong. And in the target, too, one can find the interest along
+that valley of preliminary discouragement. One should keep all one's
+scores, no matter how bad they may be. Even if a lowly seventy is the
+best one has been able to accomplish, there is a certain satisfaction
+in going after a not-so-slowly seventy-one. Every ten scores or so
+average up, and see what you have. Thus one can chart a sort of glacial
+movement upwards otherwise imperceptible to one's sardonic estimate of
+himself as the World's Champion Dub.
+
+Begin with a light bow; but work up into the heavier weights as rapidly
+as possible. The first bow I used at target weighed forty pounds. The
+first hunting bow, made for me by Dr. Pope, weighs sixty-five. I could
+draw it to the full, but only with difficulty; and it was not in any
+proper control. I seriously begged the doctor to reduce it for me,
+alleging that never would I be able to handle it. He very properly
+laughed at me. Within the year I had worked up to the point where
+seventy-five pounds seemed about right; and at the present writing I
+have one of eighty-two pounds that handles for me much easier than Dr.
+Pope's gift did at first. So begin light, but work up as fast as
+possible. Do not linger with a weak bow simply because it is easier to
+draw and because you can with it, and a light target, make a better
+target score.
+
+Beware of shooting too much just at first. If you strain the muscles of
+your drawing fingers you will have to lay off just when you are most
+eager. They strengthen very rapidly if you give them a chance. Once
+they are hardened to the work you will have no more trouble and can, as
+far as they are concerned, pop away as long as your bow arm holds out;
+but if once you get them tender and sore you will be forced to quit
+until they recover. It's as bad as a sprain.
+
+Start at forty yards. Stand upright, feet about a foot apart, facing a
+point at right angles to the target. Turn the head sharply to the left
+and look at the bull's-eye. _Do not thereafter move it by the fraction
+of an inch._ Bring your right arm across your chest. Pause and
+visualize the shot, collecting your powers. Now promptly raise your bow
+in direct line with the target. Draw the arrow to the head as it comes
+up. All your muscles are, up to this point, alert but tensed only to
+the extent necessary to draw the shaft. At the exact moment of release,
+however, they stiffen to the utmost. It is like a little spurt of
+energy released to speed the arrow on its way. That, I think, is what
+Dr. Pope means when he says one should "put his heart in the bow." It
+helps to imagine yourself trying to drive the arrow right through the
+target. Pay especial attention to the muscles of the small of the back.
+The least relaxation there means an ill-sped shaft. The bow arm must be
+on the point of aim, and _held_ there. The release must be sharply
+backward, and vigorous. Personally I find that my mental image is of
+contracting the latissimus dorsi--the muscles of the broad of the back
+by the shoulder blades--and thereby expanding the shoulders, forcing
+the hands apart, but still in direct line with the bull's-eye. And
+after the arrow has left the bow, _hold the pose!_ Carry through!
+Imagine yourself as a statue of an archer, and stay just in that
+position until you hear the arrow strike.
+
+Just in the beginning, at forty yards, with thirty arrows, you may be
+satisfied if you hit the target between sixteen and twenty-one times
+out of the thirty shots and make a score of from sixty to eighty
+points. Your ambition will be, as in golf, to "break" a hundred. By the
+time you have done that your muscles will be in shape and you can begin
+on the American Round. At first you will probably make a total of about
+two hundred for the three distances. Progress will show in your
+averages. They will creep up a few points at a time. It will be a proud
+day when you "break" three hundred. Eventually you will shoot
+consistently in the four hundreds; and that is about as far as you will
+go unless you devote yourself to the target game, and confine yourself
+to its lighter tackle and the super refinements of its delicate
+technique.
+
+The bow you will finally use for practice at the target will not be a
+hunting bow. It will be longer and more whip-ended and not so sturdy.
+But if you are to get the best results for the hunting field, I believe
+it should approximate in weight the hunting weapon. It should not be
+quite as heavy, for one shoots it more continuously. The one I use
+weighs sixty pounds. With a lighter bow one would probably make a
+somewhat better score; but that is a different game. Do not get the
+idea, however, that mere weight is the whole thing. Nothing is worse
+than to be over-bowed; and many a deer has been slain with a fifty or
+fifty-five pound weapon. Only, there is a weight that is adapted to you
+at your best; that "holds you together"; that keeps you on the mark;
+that calls your concentration; and that is like to be on the heavier
+rather than the lighter side as judged by beginner's experience.
+
+In conclusion, let me urge you eventually to make your own tackle.
+Personally, I am not dexterous when it comes to matters of finer
+handicraft; and when I became interested in this game I made up my mind
+that the construction of a bow or the building of a decent arrow was
+outside my line, and that I would not attempt it. After a while Pope
+persuaded me I ought to try arrows, at least. Under protest I attempted
+the job. The Doctor says it takes about an hour to make a good arrow. I
+can add that it takes about four hours to make a bad one. Still, when
+completed it did look surprisingly like an arrow, and it flew point
+first. Pope looked it all over and handed it back with the single
+comment that I certainly had got the shaft straight. But that arrow was
+very valuable. It proved to me that I could at least follow out the
+process and produce _some_ result. It also convinced me that Ashan
+Vitu--who was a heathen god of archers--possessed a magic that could
+make one drop of glue on the shaft become at least one quart on the
+fingers; and that turkeys are obsessed with small contrary devils who
+pass at the bird's death into the first six feathers of its wings and
+there lurk to the confusion of amateur archers. But I wanted to make
+another arrow; and I did; and it was a better arrow and took less time.
+I have that first arrow yet. It is a good idea to number the output;
+and to preserve a sample out of every three dozen or so, just to show
+not only your progress but also the advance of your ideas as to what
+constitutes a good arrow. And some you will probably find valuable for
+especial emergencies. Number Three of my own product is just such a
+one. It starts straight enough for the point at which it was aimed.
+When about thirty yards out it begins to entertain its first distrust
+of its master, and to proceed according to its own ideas. It makes up
+its mind that it has been held too high, and immediately goes into a
+nose dive to rectify the fault. Instantly it realizes that it has
+overdone the matter, and makes a desperate effort to straighten back on
+its course. A partial success darts it to the right. Number Three
+becomes ashamed and flustered. Its course from there on is a series of
+erratic dives and swoops. I should be very sorry to lose Number Three,
+for I am quite confident that I could never make another such. When my
+most painstaking shooting has resulted in a series of misses, I launch
+Number Three. There is no particular good in aiming it, though it can
+be done if found amusing. But it is surprising how often it will at the
+last moment pull off one of its erratic swoops--right into the mark!
+As a compensating device for rotten shooting it is unexcelled. It is a
+pity to laugh at it as much as we do; for I am convinced it is a
+conscientious arrow doing its best under natural handicap; like a prima
+donna with a cleft palate, for instance.
+
+In a manner not dissimilar to my beginning of the fletching art, I took
+up bow making. It can be done. The only thing is to go at it without
+any particular hope. Then you will be surprised and pleased that you
+have achieved any result at all, and will at once see where you could
+do better again. To make a very fine bow is a real art and requires
+much experience and many trials. But to make a serviceable bow that
+will shoot and will hold up for a time is not very difficult. And it is
+great fun! The first occasion on which you go afield with bow,
+bowstring, arrow, quiver, bracer, and finger tips all of your own
+composition, and loose the shaft and the thing not only flies well but
+straight and far, you will taste a wonder and a satisfaction new to
+your experience. It will probably take you some time to convince
+yourself that somehow the whole outfit is not a base imitation.
+
+From that moment you are a true archer, and you will actually look with
+tolerance on anything so stiff and metallic and mechanical as a gun.
+Your wife will accustom herself to shavings and scraps of feathers on
+the rugs. Inspirations will come to you anent better methods, which you
+will urge enthusiastically on the old timers; and the old timers will
+smile upon you sweetly and sadly. They had those same inspirations
+themselves in their green and salad days. Then no longer will you need
+a Chapter of Encouragement. [1]
+[Footnote 1: Stewart Edward White, the author and big game hunter, has
+so entered into the spirit of archery, that he has become an expert
+shot with the bow after a year's practice. The use of fire-arms no
+longer appeals to him because it is a foregone conclusion just what
+will happen when he aims at an animal. He was considered by Col.
+Roosevelt to be the best shot that ever entered the African game field
+with a gun.
+
+In the use of the bow he has revived his interest in hunting, and
+admits that it is a more sporting proposition. At this present writing
+Stewart Edward White, Arthur Young, and I, are on our way to Tanganyika
+Colony, Africa, to carry the legends of the English long bow into the
+tropics. What is written on the scroll of Fate is not visible; but with
+a sturdy bow, a true shaft, and a stout heart, we journey forth in
+search of adventure.
+
+S. P.]
+
+
+
+
+THE UPSHOT
+
+In ancient times when archery was practiced in open fields and shooting
+at butts or clouts, men walked between their distances much as golfers
+do today, and having completed their course, it was often customary to
+shoot a return round over the same field. This was called the upshot,
+and has descended into common parlance, just as many other phrases have
+which had their origin in the use of the bow and arrow.
+
+So we have come to the end of our story and prepare to say good-bye.
+
+Although we have said much, and probably too much of ourselves, we have
+not spoken the last word in archery. There are a few things that we
+have learned of the art; others know more. And though we would praise
+our pastime beyond measure, protesting that it is healthful, admirable
+and full of romance, yet we cannot claim that it accomplishes all
+things and is the only sport a man should pursue.
+
+Its devotees will find ample room for differences of opinion. The shape
+of a feather and the contour of a bow have been subjects for argument
+since time immemorial. Nor is our art suited to all men. Few indeed
+seem fitted for archery or care for it. But that rare soul who finds in
+its appeal something that satisfies his desire for fair play, historic
+sentiment, and the call of the open world, will be happy.
+
+People will scoff at him for his "medieval crotchet," will think of him
+as the Don Quixote of Sherwood Forest, but in their hearts they will
+have a wistful envy of him; for all men feel the nobility and honorable
+past of our sport. It carries with it dim memory pictures of spring
+days, the green woods and the joy of youth.
+
+It is also futile to prophesy the future of the bow and arrow. As an
+implement of the chase, to us it seems to hold a place unique for
+fairness. And in the further development of the wild game problem,
+where apparently large game preserves and refuges will be the order of
+the day, the bow is a more fitting weapon with which to slay a beast
+than a gun or any more powerful agent that may be invented.
+
+Of course, there are those who say that all hunting should cease, and
+that photography and nature study alone should be directed toward wild
+life. That sweet day may come, but at least no man can consistently
+decry hunting who eats meat, wears furs or leather, or uses any vestige
+of animal tissue; for he is party to the crime of animal murder, and
+murder more brutal and ignoble than that of the chase.
+
+And those who think the bullet is more certain and humane than the
+arrow have no accurate knowledge on which to base their comparison. Our
+experience has proved the contrary to be the case.
+
+Yet these are not the reasons why we shoot the bow: we do it because we
+love it, and this is no reason; it is an emotion difficult to explain.
+
+Nor should I close this chapter without reference to that noble company
+of archers, the members of the National Archery Association--men and
+women who can shoot as pretty a shaft as any who ever drew a bowstring.
+The names of Will Thompson, Louis Maxson, George P. Bryant, Harry
+Richardson, Dr. Robert P. Elmer, Homer Taylor, Mrs. Howell, and Cynthia
+Wesson are emblazoned on the annals of archery history for all time. To
+them and the many other worthy bowmen who have fostered the art in
+America, we are eternally grateful. The self-imposed discipline of
+target shooting is much harder work than the carefree effort of
+hunting. The rewards, however, are less spectacular.
+
+To you who would follow us into the land of Robin Hood, let me say that
+what you need most is a great longing to come, and perseverance; for if
+I should try to explain how we have accomplished even that little we
+have in hunting, I would protest that it is because we have held to an
+idea and been persistent. In my own mind the credit is ascribed to the
+fact that I have surrounded myself with good companions and tried again
+and again in spite of failure.
+
+All that we have done is perfectly possible to any adventurous youth,
+no matter what his age.
+
+Nor is that which is written here the finis, for even as I scribble we
+are on our journey to another hunt, and bowmen seem ever to be
+increasing in numbers.
+
+May the gods grant us all space to carry a sturdy bow and wander
+through the forest glades to seek the bounding deer; to lie in the deep
+meadow grasses; to watch the flight of birds; to smell the fragrance of
+burning leaves; to cast an upward glance at the unobserved beauty of
+the moon. May they give us strength to draw the string to the cheek,
+the arrow to the barb and loose the flying shaft, so long as life may
+last.
+
+Farewell and shoot well!
+
+[Illustration: (Signature of) Saxton Pope]
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Hunting with the Bow and Arrow, by Saxton Pope
+
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+<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Hunting with the Bow and Arrow, by Saxton Pope</title>
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+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Hunting with the Bow and Arrow, by Saxton Pope
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
+other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
+the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
+www.gutenberg.org.  If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
+to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
+
+Title: Hunting with the Bow and Arrow
+
+Author: Saxton Pope
+
+Posting Date: February 21, 2015 [EBook #8084]
+Release Date: May, 2005
+First Posted: June 13, 2003
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HUNTING WITH THE BOW AND ARROW ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Eric Eldred, Marvin A. Hodges, Tonya Allen,
+Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<a href="images/001.jpg"><img src="images/001th.jpg" alt="THE SHADES OF SHERWOOD FOREST"></a>
+</p>
+
+<h1>HUNTING with the BOW &amp; ARROW</h1>
+
+<h3>By</h3>
+
+<h2>Saxton Pope</h2>
+
+<h3>With 48 Illustrations</h3>
+
+<hr>
+
+<h3>DEDICATED TO</h3>
+
+<h2>ROBIN HOOD</h2>
+
+<h3>A SPIRIT THAT AT SOME TIME DWELLS IN THE HEART OF EVERY YOUTH</h3>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<p>
+<b>CONTENTS</b>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="#i">I.--THE STORY OF THE LAST YANA INDIAN.</a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="#ii">II.--ISHI'S BOW AND ARROW.</a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="#iii">III.--ISHI'S METHODS OF HUNTING.</a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="#iv">IV.--ARCHERY IN GENERAL.</a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="#v">V.--HOW TO MAKE A BOW.</a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="#vi">VI.--HOW TO MAKE AN ARROW.</a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="#vii">VII.--ARCHERY EQUIPMENT.</a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="#viii">VIII.--HOW TO SHOOT.</a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="#ix">IX.--THE PRINCIPLES OF HUNTING.</a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="#x">X.--THE RACCOON, WILDCAT, FOX, COON, CAT, AND WOLF.</a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="#xi">XI.--DEER HUNTING.</a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="#xii">XII.--BEAR HUNTING.</a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="#xiii">XIII.--MOUNTAIN LIONS.</a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="#xiv">XIV.--GRIZZLY BEAR.</a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="#xv">XV.--ALASKAN ADVENTURES.</a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="#xvi">A CHAPTER OF ENCOURAGEMENT BY STEWART EDWARD WHITE.</a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="#xvii">THE UPSHOT.</a>
+</p>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<p>
+<b>ILLUSTRATIONS</b>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="images/001.jpg">THE SHADES OF SHERWOOD FOREST</a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="images/17.jpg">A DEATH MASK OF ISHI</a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="images/32a.jpg">ISHI AND APPERSON</a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="images/32b.jpg">CALLING GAME IN AMBUSH</a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="images/32c.jpg">THE INDIAN'S FAVORITE SHOOTING POSITION</a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="images/32d.jpg">CHOPPING OUT A JUNIPER BOW</a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="images/43a.jpg">OUR CARAVAN LEAVING DEER CREEK CANYON</a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="images/43b.jpg">ISHI FLAKING AN OBSIDIAN ARROW HEAD</a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="images/43c.jpg">THE INDIAN AND A DEER</a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="images/58a.jpg">THREE TYPES OF HUNTING ARROWS</a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="images/58b.jpg">A BLUNT ARROW SHOT THROUGH AN INCH BOARD</a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="images/58c.jpg">"BRER" FOX UP A TREE</a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="images/58d.jpg">ART YOUNG SHOOTS FISH</a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="images/79.jpg">DETAILS OF BOW CONSTRUCTION</a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="images/104.jpg">SEVERAL STEPS IN ARROW MAKING</a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="images/109.jpg">ARROW HEADS OF VARIOUS SORTS USED IN HUNTING</a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="images/112.jpg">NECESSARY ARCHERY EQUIPMENT</a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="images/121a.jpg">AN ARCHER'S MEASURE, A FISTMELE</a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="images/121b.jpg">THE ENGLISH METHOD OF DRAWING THE ARROW</a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="images/121c.jpg">NOCKING THE SHAFT ON THE STRING</a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="images/121d.jpg">THE LONG BOW FULL DRAWN</a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="images/134.jpg">WILL AND MAURICE THOMPSON, AS THEY APPEARED IN 1878</a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="images/139a.jpg">SHOOTING BRUSH RABBITS</a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="images/139b.jpg">ARCHERS IN AMBUSH</a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="images/139c.jpg">ISHI RIDING A HORSE FOR THE FIRST TIME</a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="images/144a.jpg">A REST AT NOON</a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="images/144b.jpg">A LYNX THAT MET AN ARCHER</a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="images/144c.jpg">THE CHIEF LOOKING OVER GOOD DEER COUNTRY</a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="images/151a.jpg">MR. COON BROUGHT INTO CAMP</a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="images/151b.jpg">A PRETTY PAIR OF WINGS</a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="images/151c.jpg">JUST A LITTLE HUNT BEFORE BREAKFAST</a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="images/151d.jpg">YOUNG AND COMPTON WITH A QUAIL APIECE</a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="images/164a.jpg">WOODCHUCKS GALORE!</a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="images/164b.jpg">PORCUPINE QUILLS TO DECORATE A QUIVER</a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="images/164c.jpg">A FATAL ARROW AT 65 YARDS</a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="images/164d.jpg">THE CHIEF AND ART GET A BUCK AT 85 YARDS</a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="images/181.jpg">TOM MURPHY WITH HIS TWO BEST DOGS, BUTTON AND BALDY</a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="images/190.jpg">YOUNG AND I ARE VERY PROUD OF OUR MAIDEN BEAR</a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="images/211a.jpg">ARTHUR YOUNG AND HIS COUGAR</a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="images/211b.jpg">OUR FIRST MOUNTAIN LION</a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="images/211c.jpg">WE PACK THE PANTHER TO CAMP</a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="images/236a.jpg">CAMP AT SQUAW LAKE, WYOMING</a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="images/236b.jpg">THE RESULT OF OUR FIRST ENCOUNTER WITH GRIZZLY BEAR</a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="images/236c.jpg">BRINGING HOME THE TROPHIES</a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="images/251a.jpg">LOOKING FOR GRIZZLIES ON CUB CREEK</a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="images/251b.jpg">THE TREE THAT NED FROST CLIMBED TO ESCAPE DEATH</a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="images/251c.jpg">MY FEMALE GRIZZLY AND THE ARROW THAT KILLED HER</a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="images/251d.jpg">ARTHUR YOUNG SLAYS THE MONARCH OF THE MOUNTAINS</a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="images/258.jpg">BULL MOOSE BAGGED ON THE KENAI PENINSULA</a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="images/263.jpg">THE GREAT KADIAC BEAR BROUGHT LOW</a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="images/268.jpg">ARTHUR YOUNG OUTWITS THE ALASKA BIGHORN</a>
+</p>
+
+<hr>
+
+<h1>Hunting with the Bow and Arrow</h1>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<h2><a name="i">I</a></h2>
+
+<h3>THE STORY OF THE LAST YANA INDIAN</h3>
+
+<p>
+The glory and romance of archery culminated in England before the
+discovery of America. There, no doubt, the bow was used to its greatest
+perfection, and it decided the fate of nations. The crossbow and the
+matchlock had supplanted the longbow when Columbus sailed for the New
+World.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was, therefore, a distinct surprise to the first explorers of
+America that the natives used the bow and arrow so effectively. In
+fact, the sword and the horse, combined with the white man's
+superlative self-assurance, won the contest over the aborigines more
+than the primitive blunderbuss of the times. The bow and arrow was
+still more deadly than the gun.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With the gradual extermination of the American Indian, the westward
+march of civilization, and the improvement in firearms, this contest
+became more and more unequal, and the bow disappeared from the land.
+The last primitive Indian archer was discovered in California in the
+year 1911.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When the white pioneers of California descended through the northern
+part of that State by the Lassen trail, they met with a tribe of
+Indians known as the Yana, or Yahi. That is the name they called
+themselves. Their neighbors called them the Nozi, and the white men
+called them the Deer Creek or Mill Creek Indians. Different from the
+other tribes of this territory, the Yana would not submit without a
+struggle to the white man's conquest of their lands.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Yana were hunters and warriors. The usual California natives were
+yellow in color, fat and inclined to be peaceable. The Yana were
+smaller of stature, lithe, of reddish bronze complexion, and instead of
+being diggers of roots, they lived by the salmon spear and the bow.
+Their range extended over an area south of Mount Lassen, east of the
+Sacramento River, for a distance of fifty miles.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From the earliest settlement of the whites, hostilities existed between
+them. This resulted in definitely organized expeditions against these
+Indians, and the annual slaughter of hundreds.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The last big round-up of Mill Creek Indians occurred in 1872, when
+their tribe was surprised at its seasonal harvest of acorns. Upon this
+occasion a posse of whites killed such a number of natives that it is
+said the creek was damned with dead bodies. An accurate account of
+these days may be obtained from Watterman's paper on the Yana Indians.
+[Footnote: Vol. 13, No. 2, <i>Am. Archaeology and Ethnology</i>.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+During one of the final raids upon the Yana, a little band of Indian
+women and children hid in a cave. Here they were discovered and
+murdered in cold blood. One of the white scouting party laconically
+stated that he used his revolver to blow out their brains because the
+rifle spattered up the cave too much.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So it came to pass, that from two or three thousand people, the Yana
+were reduced to less than a dozen who escaped extermination. These were
+mainly women, old men and children. This tribal remnant sought the
+refuge of the impenetrable brush and volcanic rocks of Deer Creek
+Canyon. Here they lived by stealth and cunning. Like wild creatures,
+they kept from sight until the whites quite forgot their existence.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It became almost a legend that wild Indians lived in the Mount Lassen
+district. From time to time ranchers or sheep herders reported that
+their flocks had been molested, that signs of Indians had been found or
+that arrowheads were discovered in their sheep. But little credence was
+given these rumors until the year 1908, when an electric power company
+undertook to run a survey line across Deer Creek Canyon with the object
+of constructing a dam.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One evening, as a party of linemen stood on a log at the edge of the
+deep swift stream debating the best place to ford, a naked Indian rose
+up before them, giving a savage snarl and brandishing a spear. In an
+instant the survey party disbanded, fell from the log, and crossed the
+stream in record-breaking time. When they stopped to get their breath,
+the Indian had disappeared. This was the first appearance of Ishi,
+[Footnote: Ishi is pronounced "E-she."] the Yana.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Next morning an exploring expedition set out to verify the excited
+report of the night before. The popular opinion was that no such
+wildman existed, and that the linemen had been seeing things. One of
+the group offered to bet that no signs of Indians would be found.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As the explorers reached the slide of volcanic boulders where the
+apparition of the day before had disappeared, two arrows flew past
+them. They made a run for the top of the slide and reached it just in
+time to see two Indians vanish in the brush. They left behind them an
+old white-haired squaw, whom they had been carrying. She was partially
+paralyzed, and her legs were bound in swaths of willow bark, seemingly
+in an effort to strengthen them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The old squaw was wrinkled with age, her hair was cropped short as a
+sign of mourning, and she trembled with fear. The white men approached
+and spoke kindly to her in Spanish. But she seemed not to understand
+their words, and apparently expected only death, for in the past to
+meet a white man was to die. They gave her water to drink, and tried to
+make her call back her companions, but without avail.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Further search disclosed two small brush huts hidden among the laurel
+trees. So cleverly concealed were these structures that one could pass
+within a few yards and not discern them. In one of the huts acorns and
+dried salmon had been stored; the other was their habitation. There was
+a small hearth for indoor cooking; bows, arrows, fishing tackle, a few
+aboriginal utensils and a fur robe were found. These were confiscated
+in the white man's characteristic manner. They then left the place and
+returned to camp.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Next day the party revisited the site, hoping to find the rest of the
+Indians. These, however, had gone forever.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Nothing more was seen or heard of this little band until the year 1911,
+when on the outskirts of Oroville, some thirty-two miles from the Deer
+Creek camp, a lone survivor appeared. Early in the morning, brought to
+bay by a barking dog, huddled in the corner of a corral, was an
+emaciated naked Indian. So strange was his appearance and so alarmed
+was the butcher's boy who found him, that a hasty call for the town
+constable brought out an armed force to capture him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Confronted with guns, pistols, and handcuffs, the poor man was sick
+with fear. He was taken to the city jail and locked up for safekeeping.
+There he awaited death. For years he had believed that to fall into the
+hands of white men meant death. All his people had been killed by
+whites; no other result could happen. So he waited in fear and
+trembling. They brought him food, but he would not eat; water, but he
+would not drink. They asked him questions, but he could not speak. With
+the simplicity of the white man, they brought him other Indians of
+various tribes, thinking that surely all "Diggers" were the same. But
+their language was as strange to him as Chinese or Greek.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And so they thought him crazy. His hair was burnt short, his feet had
+never worn shoes, he had small bits of wood in his nose and ears; he
+neither ate, drank, nor slept. He was indeed wild or insane.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+By this time the news of the wild Indian got into the city papers, and
+Professor T. T. Watterman, of the Department of Anthropology at the
+University of California, was sent to investigate the case. He
+journeyed to Oroville and was brought into the presence of this strange
+Indian. Having knowledge of many native dialects, Dr. Watterman tried
+one after the other on the prisoner. Through good fortune, some of the
+Yana vocabulary had been preserved in the records of the University.
+Venturing upon this lost language, Watterman spoke in Yana the words,
+<i>Siwini</i>, which means pine wood, tapping at the same time the edge of
+the cot on which they sat.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In wonderment, the Indian's face lighted with faint recognition.
+Watterman repeated the charm, and like a spell the man changed from a
+cowering, trembling savage. A furtive smile came across his face. He
+said in his language, <i>I nu ma Yaki</i>--"Are you an Indian?" Watterman
+assured him that he was.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A great sense of relief entered the situation. Watterman had discovered
+one of the lost tribes of California; Ishi had discovered a friend.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They clothed him and fed him, and he learned that the white man was
+good.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Since no formal charges were lodged against the Indian, and he seemed
+to have no objection, Watterman took him to San Francisco, and there,
+attached to the Museum of Anthropology, he became a subject of study
+and lived happily for five years.
+
+From him it was learned that his people were all dead. The old woman
+seen in the Deer Creek episode was his mother; the old man was his
+uncle. These died on a long journey to Mt. Lassen, soon after their
+discovery. Here he had burned their bodies and gone into mourning. The
+fact that the white men took their means of procuring food, as well as
+their clothing, contributed, no doubt, to the death of the older
+people.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Half starved and hopeless, he had wandered into civilization. His
+father, once the chieftain of the Yana tribe, having domain over all
+the country immediately south of Mt. Lassen, was long since gone, and
+with him all his people. Ranchers and stockmen had usurped their
+country, spoiled the fishing, and driven off the game. The acorn trees
+of the valleys had been taken from them; nothing remained but evil
+spirits in the land of his forefathers.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now, however, he had found kindly people who fed him, clothed him, and
+taught him the mysteries of civilization. When asked his name, he said:
+"I have none, because there were no people to name me," meaning that no
+tribal ceremony had been performed. But the old people had called him
+Ishi, which means "strong and straight one," for he was the youth of
+their camp. He had learned to make fire with sticks; he knew the lost
+art of chipping arrowheads from flint and obsidian; he was the
+fisherman and the hunter. He knew nothing of our modern life. He had no
+name for iron, nor cloth, nor horse, nor road. He was as primitive as
+the aborigines of the pre-Columbian period. In fact, he was a man in
+the Stone Age. He was absolutely untouched by civilization. In him
+science had a rare find. He turned back the pages of history countless
+centuries. And so they studied him, and he studied them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From him they learned little of his personal history and less of that
+of his family, because an Indian considers it unbecoming to speak much
+of his own life, and it brings ill luck to speak of the dead. He could
+not pronounce the name of his father without calling him from the land
+of spirits, and this he could only do for some very important reason.
+But he knew the full history of his tribe and their destruction.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His apparent age was about forty years, yet he undoubtedly was nearer
+sixty. Because of his simple life he was in physical prime, mentally
+alert, and strong in body.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He was about five feet eight inches tall, well proportioned, had
+beautiful hands and unspoiled feet.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His features were less aquiline than those of the Plains Indian, yet
+strongly marked outlines, high cheek bones, large intelligent eyes,
+straight black hair, and fine teeth made him good to look upon.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As an artisan he was very skilful and ingenious. Accustomed to
+primitive tools of stone and bone, he soon learned to use most expertly
+the knife, file, saw, vise, hammer, ax, and other modern implements.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Although he marveled at many of our inventions and appreciated matches,
+he took great pride in his ability to make fire with two sticks of
+buckeye. This he could do in less than two minutes by twirling one on
+the other.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+About this time I became an instructor in surgery at the University
+Medical School, which is situated next to the Museum. Ishi was employed
+here in a small way as a janitor to teach him modern industry and the
+value of money. He was perfectly happy and a great favorite with
+everybody.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From his earliest experience with our community life he manifested
+little immunity to disease. He contracted all the epidemic infections
+with which he was brought in contact. He lived a very hygienic
+existence, having excellent food and sleeping outdoors, but still he
+was often sick. Because of this I came in touch with him as his
+physician in the hospital, and soon learned to admire him for the fine
+qualities of his nature.
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<a href="images/17.jpg"><img src="images/17th.jpg" alt="A DEATH MASK OF ISHI, THE LAST YANA INDIAN"></a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Though very reserved, he was kindly, honest, cleanly, and trustworthy.
+More than this, he had a superior philosophy of life, and a high moral
+standard.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+By degrees I learned to speak his dialect, and spent many hours in his
+company. He told us the folk lore of his tribe. More than forty myths
+or animal stories of his have been recorded and preserved. They are as
+interesting as the stories of Uncle Remus. The escapades of wildcat,
+the lion, the grizzly bear, the bluejay, the lizard, and the coyote are
+as full of excitement and comedy as any fairy story.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He knew the history and use of everything in the outdoor world. He
+spoke the language of the animals. He taught me to make bows and
+arrows, how to shoot them, and how to hunt, Indian fashion. He was a
+wonderful companion in the woods, and many days and nights we journeyed
+together.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After he had been with us three years we took him back to his own
+country. But he did not want to stay. He liked the ways of the white
+man, and his own land was full of the spirits of the departed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He showed us old forgotten camp sites where past chieftains made their
+villages. He took us to deer licks and ambushes used by his people long
+ago. One day in passing the base of a great rock he scratched with his
+toe and dug up the bones of a bear's paw. Here, in years past, they had
+killed and roasted a bear. This was the camp of <i>Ya mo lo ku</i>. His own
+camp was called <i>Wowomopono Tetna</i> or bear wallow.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We swam the streams together, hunted deer and small game, and at night
+sat under the stars by the camp fire, where in a simple way we talked
+of old heroes, the worlds above us, and his theories of the life to
+come in the land of plenty, where the bounding deer and the mighty bear
+met the hunter with his strong bow and swift arrows.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I learned to love Ishi as a brother, and he looked upon me as one of
+his people. He called me <i>Ku wi</i>, or Medicine Man; more, perhaps,
+because I could perform little sleight of hand tricks, than because of
+my profession.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But, in spite of the fact that he was happy and surrounded by the most
+advanced material culture, he sickened and died. Unprotected by
+hereditary or acquired immunity, he contracted tuberculosis and faded
+away before our eyes. Because he had no natural resistance, he received
+no benefit from such hygienic measures as serve to arrest the disease
+in the Caucasian. We did everything possible for him, and nursed him to
+the painful bitter end.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When his malady was discovered, plans were made to take him back to the
+mountains whence he came and there have him cared for properly. We
+hoped that by this return to his natural elements he would recover. But
+from the inception of his disease he failed so rapidly that he was not
+strong enough to travel.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Consumed with fever and unable to eat nourishing food, he seemed doomed
+from the first. After months of misery he suddenly developed a
+tremendous pulmonary hemorrhage. I was with him at the time, directed
+his medication, and gently stroked his hand as a small sign of
+fellowship and sympathy. He did not care for marked demonstrations of
+any sort.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He was a stoic, unafraid, and died in the faith of his people.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As an Indian should go, so we sent him on his long journey to the land
+of shadows. By his side we placed his fire sticks, ten pieces of
+dentalia or Indian money, a small bag of acorn meal, a bit of dried
+venison, some tobacco, and his bow and arrows.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+These were cremated with him and the ashes placed in an earthen jar. On
+it is inscribed "Ishi, the last Yana Indian, 1916."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And so departed the last wild Indian of America. With him the neolithic
+epoch terminates. He closes a chapter in history. He looked upon us as
+sophisticated children--smart, but not wise. We knew many things and
+much that is false. He knew nature, which is always true. His were the
+qualities of character that last forever. He was essentially kind; he
+had courage and self-restraint, and though all had been taken from him,
+there was no bitterness in his heart. His soul was that of a child, his
+mind that of a philosopher.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With him there was no word for good-by. He said: "You stay, I go."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He has gone and he hunts with his people. We stay, and he has left us
+the heritage of the bow.
+</p>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<h2><a name="ii">II</a></h2>
+
+<h3>HOW ISHI MADE HIS BOW AND ARROW AND HIS METHODS OF SHOOTING</h3>
+
+<p>
+Although much has been written in history and fiction concerning the
+archery of the North American Indian, strange to say, very little has
+been recorded of the methods of manufacture of their weapons, and less
+in accurate records of their shooting.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is a great privilege to have lived with an unspoiled aborigine and
+seen him step by step construct the most perfect type of bow and arrow.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The workmanship of Ishi was by far the best of any Indian in America;
+compared with thousands of specimens in the museum, his arrows were the
+most carefully and beautifully made; his bow was the best.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It would take too much time to go into the minute details of his work,
+and this has all been recorded in anthropologic records,
+[Footnote: See <i>Yahi Archery</i>, Vol. 13, No. 3, <i>Am. Archaeology and
+Ethnology</i>.]
+but the outlines of his methods are as follows:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The bow, Ishi called <i>man-nee</i>. It was a short, flat piece of mountain
+juniper backed with sinew. The length was forty-two inches, or, as he
+measured it, from the horizontally extended hand to the opposite hip.
+It was broadest at the center of each limb, approximately two inches,
+and half an inch thick. The cross-section of this part was elliptical.
+At the center of the bow the handgrip was about an inch and a quarter
+wide by three-quarters thick, a cross-section being ovoid. At the tips
+it was curved gently backward and measured at the nocks three-quarters
+by one-half an inch. The nock itself was square shouldered and
+terminated in a pin half an inch in diameter and an inch long.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The wood was obtained by splitting a limb from a tree and utilizing the
+outer layers, including the sap wood. By scraping and rubbing on
+sandstone, he shaped and finished it. The recurved tips of the bow he
+made by bending the wood backward over a heated stone. Held in shape by
+cords and binding to another piece of wood, he let his bow season in a
+dark, dry place. Here it remained from a few months to years, according
+to his needs. After being seasoned he backed it with sinew. First he
+made a glue by boiling salmon skin and applying it to the roughened
+back of the bow. When it was dry he laid on long strips of deer sinew
+obtained from the leg tendons. By chewing these tendons and separating
+their fibers, they became soft and adhesive. Carefully overlapping the
+ends of the numerous fibers he covered the entire back very thickly. At
+the nocks he surrounded the wood completely and added a circular
+binding about the bow.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+During the process of drying he bound the sinew tightly to the bow with
+long, thin strips of willow bark. After several days he removed this
+bandage and smoothed off the edges of the dry sinew, sized the surface
+with more glue and rubbed everything smooth with sandstone. Then he
+bound the handgrip for a space of four inches with a narrow buckskin
+thong.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In his native state he seems never to have greased his bow nor
+protected it from moisture, except by his bow case, which was made of
+the skin from a cougar's tail. But while with us he used shellac to
+protect the glue and wood. Other savages use buck fat or bear grease.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The bowstring he made of the finer tendons from the deer's shank. These
+he chewed until soft, then twisted them tightly into a cord having a
+permanent loop at one end and a buckskin strand at the other. While wet
+the string was tied between two twigs and rubbed smooth with spittle.
+Its diameter was one-eighth of an inch, its length about forty-eight
+inches. When dry the loop was applied to the upper nock of his bow
+while he bent the bow over his knee and wound the opposite end of the
+string about the lower nock. The buckskin thong terminating this
+portion of the string made it easier to tie in several half hitches.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When braced properly the bowstring was about five inches from the belly
+of the bow. And when not in use and unstrung the upper loop was slipped
+entirely off the nock, but held from falling away from the bow by a
+second small loop of buckskin.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Drawn to the full length of an arrow, which was about twenty-six
+inches, exclusive of the foreshaft, his bow bent in a perfect arc
+slightly flattened at the handle. Its pull was about forty-five pounds,
+and it could shoot an arrow about two hundred yards.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This is not the most powerful type of weapon known to Indians, and even
+Ishi did make stronger bows when he pleased; but this seemed to be the
+ideal weight for hunting, and it certainly was adequate in his hands.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+According to English standards, it was very short; but for hunting in
+the brush and shooting from crouched postures, it seems better fitted
+for the work than a longer weapon.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+According to Ishi, a bow left strung or standing in an upright
+position, gets tired and sweats. When not in use it should be lying
+down; no one should step over it; no child should handle it, and no
+woman should touch it. This brings bad luck and makes it shoot crooked.
+To expunge such an influence it is necessary to wash the bow in sand
+and water.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In his judgment, a good bow made a musical note when strung and the
+string is tapped with the arrow. This was man's first harp, the great
+grandfather of the pianoforte.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+By placing one end of his bow at the corner of his open mouth and
+tapping the string with an arrow, the Yana could make sweet music. It
+sounded like an Aeolian harp. To this accompaniment Ishi sang a
+folk-song telling of a great warrior whose bow was so strong that,
+dipping his arrow first in fire, then in the ocean, he shot at the sun.
+As swift as the wind, his arrow flew straight in the round open door of
+the sun and put out its light. Darkness fell upon the earth and men
+shivered with cold. To prevent themselves from freezing they grew
+feathers, and thus our brothers, the birds, were born.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Ishi called an arrow <i>sa wa</i>.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In making arrows the first thing is to get the shafts. Ishi used many
+woods, but he preferred witch hazel. The long, straight stems of this
+shrub he cut in lengths of thirty-two inches, having a diameter of
+three-eighths of an inch at the base when peeled of bark.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He bound a number of these together and put them away in a shady place
+to dry. After a week or more, preferably several months, he selected
+the best shafts and straightened them. This he accomplished by holding
+the concave surface near a small heap of hot embers and when warm he
+either pressed his great toe on the opposite side, or he bent the wood
+backward on the base of the thumb. Squinting down its axis he lined up
+the uneven contours one after the other and laid the shaft aside until
+a series of five was completed. He made up arrows in lots of five or
+ten, according to the requirements, his fingers being the measure.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The sticks thus straightened he ran back and forth between two grooved
+pieces of sandstone or revolved them on his thigh while holding the
+stones in his hand, until they were smooth and reduced to a diameter of
+about five-sixteenths of an inch. Next they were cut into lengths of
+approximately twenty-six inches. The larger end was now bound with a
+buckskin thong and drilled out for the depth of an inch and a half to
+receive the end of the foreshaft. He drilled this hole by fixing a
+long, sharp bone in the ground between his great toes and revolved the
+upright shaft between his palms on this fixed point, the buckskin
+binding keeping the wood from splitting.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The foreshaft was made of heavier wood, frequently mountain mahogany.
+It was the same diameter as the arrow, only tapering a trifle toward
+the front end, and usually was about six inches long. This was
+carefully shaped into a spindle at the larger end and set in the
+recently drilled hole of the shaft, using glue or resin for this
+purpose. The joint was bound with chewed sinew, set in glue.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The length of an arrow, over all, was estimated by Ishi in this manner.
+He placed one end on the top of his breast-bone and held the other end
+out in his extended left hand. Where it touched the tip of his
+forefinger it was cut as the proper length. This was about thirty-two
+inches.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The rear end of his arrow was now notched to receive the bowstring. He
+filed it with a bit of obsidian, or later on, with three hacksaw blades
+bound together until he made a groove one-eighth of an inch wide by
+three-eighths deep. The opposite end of the shaft was notched in a
+similar way to receive the head. The direction of this latter cut was
+such that when the arrow was on the bow the edge of the arrowhead was
+perpendicular, for the fancied reason that in this position the arrow
+when shot enters between the ribs of an animal more readily. He did not
+seem to recognize that an arrow rotates.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At this stage he painted his shafts. The pigments used in the wilds
+were red cinnabar, black pigment from the eye of trout, a green
+vegetable dye from wild onions, and a blue obtained, he said, from the
+root of a plant. These were mixed with the sap or resin of trees and
+applied with a little stick or hairs from a fox's tail drawn through a
+quill.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His usual design was a series of alternating rings of green and black
+starting two inches from the rear end and running four inches up the
+shaft. Or he made small circular dots and snaky lines running down the
+shaft for a similar distance. When with us he used dry colors mixed
+with shellac, which he preferred to oil paints because they dried
+quicker. The painted area, intended for the feathers, is called the
+shaftment and not only helps in finding lost arrows, but identifies the
+owner. This entire portion he usually smeared with thin glue or sizing.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A number of shafts having been similarly prepared, the Indian was ready
+to feather them. A feather he called <i>pu nee</i>. In fledging arrows Ishi
+used eagle, buzzard, hawk or flicker feathers. Owl feathers Indians
+seem to avoid, thinking they bring bad luck. By preference he took them
+from the wings, but did not hesitate to use tail feathers if reduced to
+it. With us he used turkey pinions.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Grasping one between the heel of his two palms he carefully separated
+the bristles at the tip of the feather with his fingers and pulled them
+apart, splitting the quill its entire length. This is called stripping
+a feather. Taking the wider half he firmly held one end on a rock with
+his great toe, and the other end between the thumb and forefinger of
+his left hand. With a piece of obsidian, or later on a knife blade, he
+scraped away the pith until the rib was thin and flat.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Having prepared a sufficient number in this way he gathered them in
+groups of three, all from similar wings, tied them with a bit of string
+and dropped them in a vessel of water. When thoroughly wet and limp
+they were ready for use.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While he chewed up a strand of sinew eight or ten inches long, he
+picked up a group of feathers, stripped off the water, removed one, and
+after testing its strength, folded the last two inches of bristles down
+on the rib, and the rest he ruffled backward, thus leaving a free space
+for later binding. He prepared all three like this.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Picking up an arrow shaft he clamped it between his left arm and chest,
+holding the rear end above the shaftment in his left hand. Twirling it
+slowly in this position, he applied one end of the sinew near the nock,
+fixing it by overlapping. The first movements were accomplished while
+holding one extremity of the sinew in his teeth; later, having applied
+the feathers to the stick, he shifted the sinew to the grasp of the
+right thumb and forefinger.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One by one he laid the feathers in position, binding down the last two
+inches of stem and the wet barbs together. The first feather he applied
+on a line perpendicular to the plane of the nock; the two others were
+equidistant from this. For the space of an inch he lapped the sinew
+about the feathers and arrow-shaft, slowly rotating it all the while, at
+last smoothing the binding with his thumb nail.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The rear ends having been lashed in position, the arrow was set aside
+to dry while the rest were prepared.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Five or ten having reached this stage and the binding being dry and
+secure, he took one again between his left arm and chest, and with his
+right hand drew all the feathers straight and taut, down the shaft.
+Here he held them with the fingers of his left hand. Having marked a
+similar place on each arrow where the sinew was to go, he cut the
+bristles off the rib. At this point he started binding with another
+piece of wet sinew. After a few turns he drew the feathers taut again
+and cut them, leaving about a half inch of rib. This he bound down
+completely to the arrow-shaft and finished all by smoothing the wet
+lapping with his thumb nail.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The space between the rib and the wood he sometimes smeared with more
+glue to cause the feather to adhere to the shaft, but this was not the
+usual custom with him. After all was dry and firm, Ishi took the arrow
+and beat it gently across his palm so that the feathers spread out
+nicely.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As a rule the length of his feathers was four inches, though on
+ceremonial arrows they often were as long as eight inches.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After drying, the feathers were cut with a sharp piece of obsidian,
+using a straight stick as a guide and laying the arrow on a flat piece
+of wood. When with us he trimmed them with scissors, making a straight
+cut from the full width of the feather in back, to the height of a
+quarter of an inch at the forward extremity. On his arrows he left the
+natural curve of the feather at the nock, and while the rear binding
+started an inch or more from the butt of the arrow, the feather drooped
+over the nock. This gave a pretty effect and seemed to add to the
+steering qualities of the missile.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Two kinds of points were used on Ishi's arrows. One was the simple
+blunt end of the shaft bound with sinew used for killing small game and
+practice shots. The other was his hunting head, made of flint or
+obsidian. He preferred the latter.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Obsidian was used as money among the natives of California. A boulder
+of this volcanic glass was packed from some mountainous districts and
+pieces were cracked off and exchanged for dried fish, venison, or
+weapons. It was a medium of barter. Although all men were more or less
+expert in flaking arrowheads and knives, the better grades of bows,
+arrows, and arrow points were made by the older, more expert
+specialists of the tribe.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Ishi often referred to one old Indian, named <i>Chu no wa yahi</i>, who
+lived at the base of a great cliff with his crazy wife. This man owned
+an ax, and thus was famous for his possessions as well as his skill as
+a maker of bows. From a distant mountain crest one day Ishi pointed out
+to me the camp of this Indian who was long since dead. If ever Ishi
+wished to refer to a hero of the bow, or having been beaten in a shot,
+he always told us what <i>Chu no wa yahi</i> could have done.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To make arrowheads properly one should smear his face with mud and sit
+out in the hot sun in a quiet secluded spot. The mud is a precaution
+against harm from the flying chips of glass, possibly also a good luck
+ritual. If by chance a bit of glass should fly in the eye, Ishi's
+method of surgical relief was to hold his lower lid wide open with one
+finger while he slapped himself violently on the head with the other
+hand. I am inclined to ascribe the process of removal more to the
+hydraulic effect of the tears thus started than to the mechanical jar
+of the treatment.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He began this work by taking one chunk of obsidian and throwing it
+against another; several small pieces were thus shattered off. One of
+these, approximately three inches long, two inches wide and half an
+inch thick, was selected as suitable for an arrowhead, or <i>haka</i>.
+Protecting the palm of his left hand by a piece of thick buckskin, Ishi
+placed a piece of obsidian flat upon it, holding it firmly with his
+fingers folded over it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In his right hand he held a short stick on the end of which was lashed
+a sharp piece of deer horn. Grasping the horn firmly while the longer
+extremity lay beneath his forearm, he pressed the point of the horn
+against the edge of the obsidian. Without jar or blow, a flake of glass
+flew off, as large as a fish scale. Repeating this process at various
+spots on the intended head, turning it from side to side, first
+reducing one face, then the other, he soon had a symmetrical point. In
+half an hour he could make the most graceful and perfectly proportioned
+arrowhead imaginable. The little notches fashioned to hold the sinew
+binding below the barbs he shaped with a smaller piece of bone, while
+the arrowhead was held on the ball of his thumb.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Flint, plate glass, old bottle glass, onyx--all could be worked with
+equal facility. Beautiful heads were fashioned from blue bottles and
+beer bottles.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The general size of these points was two inches for length,
+seven-eighths for width, and one-eighth for thickness. Larger heads
+were used for war and smaller ones for shooting bears.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Such a head, of course, was easily broken if the archer missed his
+shot. This made him very careful about the whole affair of shooting.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When ready for use, these heads were set on the end of the shaft with
+heated resin and bound in place with sinew which encircled the end of
+the arrow and crossed diagonally through the barb notches with many
+recurrences.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Such a point has better cutting qualities in animal tissue than has
+steel. The latter is, of course, more durable. After entering
+civilization, Ishi preferred to use iron or steel blades of the same
+general shape, or having a short tang for insertion in the arrowhead.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Ishi carried anywhere from five to sixty arrows in a quiver made of
+otter skin which hung suspended by a loop of buckskin over his left
+shoulder.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His method of bracing or stringing the bow was as follows: Grasping it
+with his right hand at its center, with the belly toward him, and the
+lower end on his right thigh, he held the upper end with his left hand
+while the loop of the string rested between his finger and thumb. By
+pressing downward at the handle and pulling upward with the left hand
+he so sprung the bow that the loop of the cord could be slipped over
+the upper nock.
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<a href="images/32a.jpg"><img src="images/32ath.jpg" alt="ISHI AND APPERSON, THE GUIDE, ONCE OLD ENEMIES, NOW FRIENDS"></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<a href="images/32b.jpg"><img src="images/32bth.jpg" alt="CALLING GAME IN AMBUSH"></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<a href="images/32c.jpg"><img src="images/32cth.jpg" alt="THE INDIAN'S FAVORITE SHOOTING POSITION"></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<a href="images/32d.jpg"><img src="images/32dth.jpg" alt="CHOPPING OUT A JUNIPER BOW"></a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In nocking his arrow, the bow was held diagonally across the body, its
+upper end pointing to the left. It was held lightly in the palm of the
+left hand so that it rested loosely in the notch of the thumb while the
+fingers partially surrounded the handle. Taking an arrow from his
+quiver, he laid it across the bow on its right side where it lay
+between the extended fingers of his left hand. He gently slid the arrow
+forward until the nock slipped over the string at its center. Here he
+set it properly in place and put his right thumb under the string,
+hooked upward ready to pull. At the same time he flexed his forefinger
+against the side of the arrow, and the second finger was placed on the
+thumb nail to strengthen the pull.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Thus he accomplished what is known as the Mongolian release.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Only a few nations ever used this type of arrow release, and the Yana
+seem to have been the only American natives to do so.
+[Footnote: See Morse on <i>Arrow Release</i>.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To draw his bow he extended his left arm. At the same time he pulled
+his right hand toward him. The bow arm was almost in front of him,
+while his right hand drew to the top of his breast bone. With both eyes
+open he sighted along his shaft and estimated the elevation according
+to the distance to be shot.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He released firmly and without change of position until the arrow hit.
+He preferred to shoot kneeling or squatting, for this was most
+favorable for getting game.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His shooting distances were from ten yards up to fifty. Past this range
+he did not think one should shoot, but sought rather to approach his
+game more closely.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In his native state he practiced shooting at little oak balls, or
+bundles of grass bound to represent rabbits, or little hoops of willow
+rolled along the ground. Like all other archers, if Ishi missed a shot
+he always had a good excuse. There was too much wind, or the arrow was
+crooked, or the bow had lost its cast, or, as a last resource, the
+coyote doctor bewitched him, which is the same thing we mean when we
+say it is just bad luck. While with us he shot at the regulation straw
+target, and he is the first and only Indian of whose shooting any
+accurate records have been made.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Many exaggerated reports exist concerning the accuracy of the shooting
+of American Indians; but here we have one who shot ever since
+childhood, who lived by hunting, and must have been as good, if not
+better, than the average.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He taught us to shoot Indian style at first, but later we learned the
+old English methods and found them superior to the Indian. At the end
+of three months' practice, Dr. J. V. Cooke and I could shoot as well as
+Ishi at targets, but he could surpass us at game shooting.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Ishi never thought very much of our long bows. He always said, "Too
+much <i>man-nee</i>." And he always insisted that arrows should be painted
+red and green.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But when we began beating him at targets, he took all his shafts home
+and scraped the paint off them, putting back rings of blue and yellow,
+doubtless to change his luck. In spite of our apparent superiority at
+some forms of shooting, he never changed his methods to meet
+competition. We, of course, did not want him to.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Small objects the size of a quail the Indian could hit with regularity
+up to twenty yards. And I have seen him kill ground squirrels at forty
+yards; yet at the same distances he might miss a four-foot target. He
+explained this by saying that the target was too large and the bright
+colored rings diverted the attention. He was right.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There is a regular system of shooting in archery competition. In
+America there is what is known as the American Round, which consists of
+shooting thirty arrows at each of the following distances: sixty,
+fifty, and forty yards. The bull's-eye on the target is a trifle over
+nine inches and is surrounded by four rings of half this diameter.
+Their value is 9, 7, 5, 3, 1, successively counting from the center
+outward. The target itself is constructed of straw, bound in the form
+of a mat four feet in diameter, covered with a canvas facing.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Counting the hits and scores on the various distances, a good archer
+will make the following record. Here is Arthur Young's best score:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+March 25, 1917.
+</p>
+
+<pre>
+At 60 yards        30 hits    190 score    11 golds
+   50 yards        30 hits    198 score     9 golds
+   40 yards        30 hits    238 score    17 golds
+</pre>
+
+<pre>
+   Total           90 hits    626 score    37 golds
+</pre>
+
+<p>
+This is one of the best scores made by American archers.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Ishi's best record is as follows:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+October 23, 1914.
+</p>
+
+<pre>
+At 60 yards        10 hits     32 score
+   50 yards        20 hits     92 score     2 golds
+   40 yards        19 hits     99 score     2 golds
+</pre>
+
+<pre>
+   Total           49 hits    223 score     4 golds
+</pre>
+
+<p>
+His next best score was this:
+</p>
+
+<pre>
+At 60 yards        13 hits     51 score
+   50 yards        17 hits     59 score
+   40 yards        22 hits     95 score
+</pre>
+
+<pre>
+   Total           52 hits    205 score
+</pre>
+
+<p>
+My own best practice American round is as follows:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+May 22, 1917.
+</p>
+
+<pre>
+At 60 yards        29 hits    157 score
+   50 yards        29 hits    185 score
+   40 yards        30 hits    196 score
+</pre>
+
+<pre>
+   Total           88 hits    538 score
+</pre>
+
+<p>
+Anything over 500 is considered good shooting.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It will be seen from this that the Indian was not a good target shot,
+but in field shooting and getting game, probably he could excel the
+white man.
+</p>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<h2><a name="iii">III</a></h2>
+
+<h3>ISHI'S METHODS OF HUNTING</h3>
+
+<p>
+Hunting with Ishi was pure joy. Bow in hand, he seemed to be
+transformed into a being light as air and as silent as falling snow.
+From the very first we went on little expeditions into the country
+where, without appearing to instruct, he was my teacher in the old, old
+art of the chase. I followed him into a new system of getting game. We
+shot rabbits, quail, and squirrels with the bow. His methods here were
+not so well defined as in the approach to larger game, but I was struck
+from the first by his noiseless step, his slow movements, his use of
+cover. These little animals are flushed by sound and sight, not scent.
+Another prominent feature of Ishi's work in the field was his
+indefatigable persistence. He never gave up when he knew a rabbit was
+in a clump of brush. Time meant nothing to him; he simply stayed until
+he got his game. He would watch a squirrel hole for an hour if
+necessary, but he always got the squirrel.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He made great use of the game call. We all know of duck and turkey
+calls, but when he told me that he lured rabbits, tree squirrels,
+wildcats, coyote, and bear to him, I thought he was romancing. Going
+along the trail, he would stop and say, "<i>Ineja teway--bjum--metchi bi
+wi</i>," or "This is good rabbit ground." Then crouching behind a suitable
+bush as a blind, he would place the fingers of his right hand against
+his lips and, going through the act of kissing, he produced a plaintive
+squeak similar to that given by a rabbit caught by a hawk or in mortal
+distress. This he repeated with heartrending appeals until suddenly one
+or two or sometimes three rabbits appeared in the opening. They came
+from distances of a hundred yards or more, hopped forward, stopped and
+listened, hopped again, listened, and ultimately came within ten or
+fifteen yards while Ishi dragged out his squeak in a most pathetic
+manner. Then he would shoot.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To test his ability one afternoon while hunting deer, I asked the Yana
+to try his call in twelve separate locations. From these twelve calls
+we had five jackrabbits and one wildcat approach us. The cat came out
+of the forest, cautiously stepped nearer and sat upon a log in a bright
+open space not more than fifty yards away while I shot three arrows at
+him, one after the other; the last clipped him between the ears.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This call being a cry of distress, rabbits and squirrels come with the
+idea of protecting their young. They run around in a circle, stamp
+their feet, and make great demonstrations of anger, probably as much to
+attract the attention of the supposed predatory beast and decoy him
+away, as anything else.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The cat, the coyote, and the bear come for no such humane motive; they
+are thinking of food, of joining the feast.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I learned the call myself, not perfectly, but well enough to bring
+squirrels down from the topmost branches of tall pines, to have foxes
+and lynx approach me, and to get rabbits.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Not only could Ishi call the animals, but he understood their language.
+Often when we have been hunting he has stopped and said, "The squirrel
+is scolding a fox." At first I said to him, "I don't believe you." Then
+he would say, "Wait! Look!" Hiding behind a tree or rock or bush, in a
+few minutes we would see a fox trot across the open forest.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It seemed that for a hawk or cat or man, the squirrel has a different
+call, such that Ishi could say without seeing, what molested his little
+brother.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Often have we stopped and rested because, so he said, a bluejay called
+far and wide, "Here comes a man!" There was no use going farther, the
+animals all knew of our presence. Only a white hunter would advance
+under these circumstances.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Ishi could smell deer, cougar, and foxes like an animal, and often
+discovered them first this way. He could imitate the call of quail to
+such an extent that he spoke a half-dozen sentences to them. He knew
+the crow of the cock on sentinel duty when he signals to others; he
+knew the cry of warning, and the run-to-shelter cry of the hen; her
+command to her little ones to fly; and the "lie low" cluck; then at
+last the "all's well" chirp.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Deer he could call in the fawn season by placing a folded leaf between
+his lips and sucking vigorously. This made a bleat such as a lamb
+gives, or a boy makes blowing on a blade of grass between his thumbs.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He also enticed deer by means of a stuffed buck's head which he wore as
+a cap, and bobbing up and down behind bushes excited their curiosity
+until they approached within bow-shot. Ordinarily in hunting deer, the
+Indian used what is termed the still hunt, but with him it was more
+than that. First of all he studied the country for its formation of
+hills, ridges, valleys, canyons, brush and timber. He observed the
+direction of the prevailing winds, the position of the sun at daybreak
+and evening. He noted the water holes, game trails, "buck look-outs,"
+deer beds, the nature of the feeding grounds, the stage of the moon,
+the presence of salt licks, and many other features of importance. If
+possible, he located the hiding-place of the old bucks in daytime, all
+of which every careful hunter does. Next, he observed the habits of
+game, and the presence or absence of predatory beasts that kill deer.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Having decided these and other questions, he prepared for the hunt. He
+would eat no fish the day before the hunt, and smoke no tobacco, for
+these odors are detected a great way off. He rose early, bathed in the
+creek, rubbed himself with the aromatic leaves of yerba buena, washed
+out his mouth, drank water, but ate no food. Dressed in a loin cloth,
+but without shirt, leggings or moccasins, he set out, bow and quiver at
+his side. He said that clothing made too much noise in the brush, and
+naturally one is more cautious in his movements when reminded by his
+sensitive hide that he is touching a sharp twig.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From the very edge of camp, until he returned, he was on the alert for
+game, and the one obvious element of his mental attitude was that he
+suspected game everywhere. He saw a hundred objects that looked like
+deer, to every live animal in reality. He took it for granted that ten
+deer see you where you see one--so see it first! On the trail, it was a
+crime to speak. His warning note was a soft, low whistle or a hiss. As
+he walked, he placed every footfall with precise care; the most
+stealthy step I ever saw; he was used to it; lived by it. For every
+step he looked twice. When going over a rise of ground he either
+stooped, crawled or let just his eyes go over the top, then stopped and
+gazed a long time for the slightest moving twig or spot of color. Of
+course, he always hunted up wind, unless he were cutting across country
+or intended to flush game.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At sunrise and sunset he tried always to get between the sun and his
+game. He drifted between the trees like a shadow, expectant and nerved
+for immediate action.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Some Indians, covering their heads with tall grass, can creep up on
+deer in the open, and rising suddenly to a kneeling posture shoot at a
+distance of ten or fifteen yards. But Ishi never tried this before me.
+Having located his quarry, he either shot, at suitable ranges, or made
+a detour to wait the passing of the game or to approach it from a more
+favorable direction. He never used dogs in hunting.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When a number of people hunted together, Ishi would hide behind a blind
+at the side of a deer trail and let the others run the deer past. In
+his country we saw old piles of rock covered with lichen and moss that
+were less than twenty yards from well-marked deer trails. For
+numberless years Indians had used these as blinds to secure camp meat.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the same necessity, the Indian would lie in wait near licks or
+springs to get his food; but he never killed wantonly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Although Ishi took me on many deer hunts and we had several shots at
+deer, owing to the distance or the fall of the ground or obstructing
+trees, we registered nothing better than encouraging misses. He was
+undoubtedly hampered by the presence of a novice, and unduly hastened
+by the white man's lack of time. His early death prevented our ultimate
+achievement in this matter, so it was only after he had gone to the
+Happy Hunting Grounds that I, profiting by his teachings, killed my
+first deer with the bow.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+That he had shot many deer, even since boyhood, there was no doubt. To
+prove that he could shoot through one with his arrows, I had him
+discharge several at a buck killed by our packer. Shooting at forty
+yards, one arrow went through the chest wall, half its length; another
+struck the spine and fractured it, both being mortal wounds.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was the custom of his tribe to hunt until noon, when by that time
+they usually had several deer, obtained, as a rule, by the ambush
+method. Having pre-arranged the matter, the women appeared on the
+scene, cut up the meat, cooked part of it, principally the liver and
+heart, and they had a feast on the spot. The rest was taken to camp and
+made into jerky.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In skinning animals, the Indian used an obsidian knife held in his hand
+by a piece of buckskin. I found this cut better than the average
+hunting knife sold to sportsmen. Often in skinning rabbits he would
+make a small hole in the skin over the abdomen and blow into this,
+stripping the integument free from the body and inflating it like a
+football, except at the legs.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In skinning the tail of an animal, he used a split stick to strip it
+down, and did it so dextrously that it was a revelation of how easy
+this otherwise difficult process may be when one knows how. He tanned
+his skins in the way customary with most savages: clean skinning, brain
+emulsion, and plenty of elbow grease.
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<a href="images/43a.jpg"><img src="images/43ath.jpg" alt="OUR CARAVAN LEAVING DEER CREEK CANYON"></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<a href="images/43b.jpg"><img src="images/43bth.jpg" alt="ISHI FLAKING AN OBSIDIAN ARROW HEAD"></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<a href="images/43c.jpg"><img src="images/43cth.jpg" alt="THE INDIAN AND A DEER"></a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His people killed bear with the bow and arrow. Ishi made a distinction
+between grizzly bear, which he called <i>tet na</i>, and black bear, which
+he called <i>bo he</i>. The former had long claws, could not climb trees,
+and feared nothing. He was to be let alone. The other was "all same
+pig." The black bear, when found, was surrounded by a dozen or more
+Indians who built fires, and discharging their arrows at his open
+mouth, attempted to kill him. If he charged, a burning brand was
+snatched from the fire and thrust in his face while the others shot him
+from the side. Thus they wore him down and at last vanquished him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In his youth, Ishi killed a cinnamon bear single handed. Finding it
+asleep on a ledge of rock, he sneaked close to it and gave a loud
+whistle. The bear rose up on its hind legs and Ishi shot him through
+the chest. With a roar the bear fell off the ledge and the Indian
+jumped after him. With a short-handled obsidian spear he thrust him
+through the heart. The skin of this bear now hangs in the Museum of
+Anthropology in mute testimony of the courage and daring of Ishi. Had
+this young man been given a name, perhaps they would have called him
+Yellow Bear.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While he shot many birds, I never saw Ishi try wing shooting except at
+eagles or hawks. For these he would use an arrow on which he had
+smeared mud to make it dark in color. A light shaft is readily
+discerned by these birds, and I have often seen them dodge an arrow.
+But the darker one is almost invisible head on. The feathers of the
+arrows were close cropped to make them swift and noiseless.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The sound of a bowstring is that of a sharp twang accompanied by a
+muffled crack. To avoid this and make a silent shot, the Indian bound
+his bow at the nocks with weasel fur; this effectually damped the
+vibration of the string, while the passage of the arrow across the bow,
+which gives the slight crack, is abolished by a heavy padding of
+buckskin at this point.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Ishi never wore an arm guard or glove or finger stalls to protect
+himself as other archers do. He seemed not to need them. When he
+released the arrow, the bow rotated in his hand so that the string
+faced in the opposite direction from which it started. His thumb alone
+drew the string, and this was so toughened that it needed no leather
+covering.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In a little bag he carried extra arrowheads and sinews, so that in a
+pinch he could mend his arrows.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When not actually in use, he promptly unstrung his bow, and gently
+straightened it by hand. In cold weather he heated it over a fire
+before bracing it. The slightest moisture would deter him from
+shooting, unless absolutely necessary--he was so jealous of his tackle.
+If his bowstring stretched in the heat or dampness, as sinew is liable
+to do, he shortened it by twisting one end prior to bracing it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Before shooting he invariably looked over each arrow, straightened it
+in his hands or by his teeth, re-arranged its feathers, and saw that
+the point was properly adjusted. In fact, he gave infinite attention to
+detail. With him, every shot must count. Besides arrows in his quiver,
+he carried several ready for use under his right arm, which he kept
+close to his side while drawing the bow.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In all things pertaining to the handicraft of archery and the technique
+of shooting, he was most exacting. Neatness about his tackle, care of
+his equipment, deliberation and form in his shooting were typical of
+him; in fact, he loved his bow as he did no other of his possessions.
+It was his constant companion in life and he took it with him on his
+last long journey.
+</p>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<h2><a name="iv">IV</a></h2>
+
+<h3>ARCHERY IN GENERAL</h3>
+
+<p>
+Our experience with Ishi waked the love of archery in us, that impulse
+which lies dormant in the heart of every Anglo-Saxon. For it is a
+strange thing that all the men who have centered about this renaissance
+in shooting the bow, in our immediate locality, are of English
+ancestry. Their names betray them. Many have come and watched and shot
+a little, and gone away; but these have stayed to hunt.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From shooting the bow Indian fashion, I turned to the study of its
+history, and soon found that the English were its greatest masters. In
+them archery reached its high tide; after them its glory passed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But the earliest evidence of the use of the bow is found in the
+existence of arrowheads assigned to the third interglacial period,
+nearly 50,000 years ago.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+That man had material culture prior to this epoch, there is no doubt,
+and the use of the bow with arrows of less complicated structure must
+have preceded this period.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+All races and nations at one time or another have used the bow. Even
+the Australian aborigine, who is supposed to have been too low in
+mental development to have understood the principles of archery, used a
+miniature bow and poisoned arrow in shooting game. In the magnificent
+collection of Joseph Jessop of San Diego, California, I saw one of
+these little bows scarcely more than a foot long. The arrows, he
+stated, the natives carried in the hair of their heads.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Those who are interested in the archaeology of the bow should read the
+volume on archery of the Badminton Library by Longmans.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Various peoples have excelled in shooting, notably the Japanese, the
+Turks, the Scythians, and the English. Others have not been suited by
+temperament to use the bow. The Latins, the Peruvians, and the Irish
+seem never to have been toxophilites. The famous long bow of Merrie Old
+England was brought there by the Normans, who inherited it from the
+Norsemen settled along the Rhine. Here grew the best yew trees in days
+gone by, and this, doubtless, was a strong determining factor in the
+superior development of their archery.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Before the battle of Hastings, the Saxons used the short, weak weapon
+common to all primitive people. The conquered Saxon, deprived of all
+arms such as the boar-spear, the sword, the ax, and the dagger,
+naturally turned to the bow because he could make this himself, and he
+copied the Norman long bow.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Although the first game preserves in England were established by
+William the Conqueror at this time, the Saxon was permitted to shoot
+birds and small beasts in his fields and therefore was allowed to use a
+blunt arrow, headed with a lead tip or pilum, hence our term pile, or
+target point. If found with a sharp arrowhead, the so-called broad-head
+used for killing the king's deer, he was promptly hanged. The evidence
+against such a poacher was summed up thus in the old legend:
+</p>
+
+<p class="ind">
+  Dog draw, stable stand<br>
+  Back berond, bloody hand.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One found following a questing hound, posed in the stand of an archer,
+carrying game on his back, or with the evidence of recent butchery on
+his hands, was hanged to the nearest tree by his own bowstring.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was under these circumstances that outlawry took the form of deer
+killing and robust archery became the national sport. In these days the
+legendary hero, the demi-myth, Robin Hood, was born. What boy has not
+thrilled at the tales of Greenwood men, the well-sped shaft, the
+arrow's low whispering flight, and the willow wand split at a hundred
+paces?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Every boy goes through a period of barbarism, just as the nations have
+passed, and during that age he is stirred by the call of the bow. I,
+too, shot the toy bows of boyhood; shot with Indian youths in the Army
+posts of Texas and Arizona. We played the impromptu pageants of Robin
+Hood, manufactured our own tackle, and carried it about with unfailing
+fidelity; hunted small birds and rabbits, and were the usual savages of
+that age.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But when it comes to the legends of the bow, the records of these past
+glories are so vague that we must accept them as a tale oft told; it
+grows with the telling.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It seems that distances were measured in feet, paces, yards, or rods
+with blithe indifference, and the narrator added to them at will. Robin
+is supposed to have shot a mile, and his bow was so long and so strong
+no man could draw it. In sooth, he was a mighty hero, and yet the
+ballads refer to him as a "slight fellow," even "a bag of bones." As a
+youth he slew the king's deer at three hundred yards, a right goodly
+shot! And no doubt it was.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Of all the bows of the days when archery was in flower, only two
+remain. These are unfinished staves found in the ship <i>Mary Rose</i>, sunk
+off the coast of Albion in 1545. This vessel having been raised from
+the bottom of the ocean in 1841, the staves were recovered and are now
+in the Tower of London. They are six feet, four and three-quarters
+inches long, one and one-half inches across the handle, one and
+one-quarter inches thick, and proportionately large throughout. The
+dimensions are recorded in Badminton. Of course, they never have been
+tested for strength, but it has been estimated at 100 pounds.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Determined to duplicate these old bows, I selected a very fine grained
+stave of seasoned yew and made an exact duplicate, according to the
+recorded measurements.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This bow, when drawn the standard arrow length of twenty-eight inches,
+weighed sixty-five pounds and shot a light flight arrow two hundred and
+twenty-five yards. When drawn thirty-six inches, it weighed seventy-six
+pounds and shot a flight arrow two hundred and fifty-six yards. From
+this it would seem that even though these ancient staves appear to be
+almost too powerful for a modern man to draw, they not only are well
+within our command, but do not shoot a mile.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The greatest distance shot by a modern archer was made by Ingo Simon,
+using a Turkish composite bow, in France in 1913. The measured distance
+was four hundred and fifty-nine yards and eight inches. That is very
+near the limit of this type of bow and far beyond the possibilities of
+the yew long bow. But the long bow is capable of shooting heavier
+shafts and shooting them harder.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Since archery is fast disappearing from the land, and the material for
+study will soon become extinct, I have undertaken to record the
+strength and shooting qualities of a representative number of the
+available bows in preservation, together with the power of penetration
+of arrows.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To do this, through the mediation of the Department of Anthropology of
+the University of California, I have had access to the best collection
+of bows in America. Thousands of weapons were at my disposal in various
+museums, and from these I selected the best preserved and strongest to
+shoot.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The formal report of these experiments is in the publications of the
+University, and here 'tis only necessary to mention a few of the
+findings.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In testing the function of these bows and their ability to shoot, a
+bamboo flight arrow made by Ishi was used as the standard. It was
+thirty inches long, weighed three hundred and ten grains, and had very
+low cropped feathers. It carried universally better than all other
+arrows tested, and flew twenty per cent farther than the best English
+flight arrows.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To make sure that no element of personal weakness entered into the
+test, I had these bows shot by Mr. Compton, a very powerful man and one
+used to the bow for thirty years. I myself could draw them all, and
+checked up the results.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is axiomatic that the weight and the cast of a bow are criteria of
+its value as a weapon in war or in the chase. Weight, as used by an
+archer, means the pull of a bow when full drawn, recorded in pounds.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The following is a partial list of those weighed and shot. They are, of
+course, all genuine bows and represent the strongest. Each was shot at
+least six times over a carefully measured course and the greatest
+flight recorded. All flights were made at an elevation of forty-five
+degrees and the greatest possible draw was given each shot. In fact we
+spared no bows because of their age, and consequently broke two in the
+testing.
+</p>
+
+<pre>
+                                 Weight     Distance Shot
+    Alaskan....................... 80 pounds    180 yards
+    Apache........................ 28  "        120  "
+    Blackfoot..................... 45  "        145  "
+    Cheyenne...................... 65  "        156  "
+    Cree.......................... 38  "        150  "
+    Esquimaux..................... 80  "        200  "
+    Hupa.......................... 40  "        148  "
+    Luiseno....................... 48  "        125  "
+    Navajo........................ 45  "        150  "
+    Mojave........................ 40  "        110  "
+    Osage......................... 40  "         92  "
+    Sioux......................... 45  "        165  "
+    Tomawata...................... 40  "        148  "
+    Yurok......................... 30  "        140  "
+    Yukon......................... 60  "        125  "
+    Yaki.......................... 70  "        210  "
+    Yana.......................... 48  "        205  "
+</pre>
+
+<p>
+The list of foreign bows is as follows:
+</p>
+
+<pre>
+                                   Weight     Distance Shot
+    Paraguay...................... 60 pounds    170 yards
+    Polynesian.................... 49  "        172  "
+    Nigrito....................... 56  "        176  "
+    Andaman Islands................45  "        142  "
+    Japanese.......................48  "        175  "
+    Africa.........................54  "        107  "
+    Tartar.........................98  "        175  "
+    South American.................50  "         98  "
+    Igorrote.......................26  "        100  "
+    Solomon Islands................56  "        148  "
+    English target bow (imported)..48  "        220  "
+    English yew flight bow.........65  "        300  "
+    Old English hunting bow........75  "        250  "
+</pre>
+
+<p>
+It will be seen from these tests that no existing aboriginal bow is
+very powerful when compared with those in use in the days of robust
+archery in old England.
+
+The greatest disappointment was in the Tartar bow which was brought
+expressly from Shansi, China, by my brother, Col. B. H. Pope. With this
+powerful weapon I expected to shoot a quarter of a mile; but with all
+its dreadful strength, its cast was slow and cumbersome. The arrow that
+came with it, a miniature javelin thirty-eight inches long, could only
+be projected one hundred and ten yards. In making these shots both
+hands and feet were used to draw the bow. A special flight arrow
+thirty-six inches long was used in the test, but with hardly any
+increase of distance gained.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After much experimenting and research into the literature,
+[Footnote: Balfour, <i>Composite Bows</i>.]
+I constructed two horn composite bows, such as were used by the Turks
+and Egyptians. They were perfect in action, the larger one weighing
+eighty-five pounds. With this I hoped to establish a record, but after
+many attempts my best flight was two hundred and ninety-one yards. This
+weapon, being only four feet long, would make an excellent buffalo bow
+to be used on horseback.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In shooting for distance, of course, a very light missile is used, and
+nothing but empirical tests can determine the shape, size, and weight
+that suits each bow. Consequently, we use hundreds of arrows to find
+the best. For more than seven years these experiments have continued,
+and at this stage of our progress the best flight arrow is made of
+Japanese bamboo five-sixteenths of an inch in diameter, having a
+foreshaft of birch the same diameter and four inches long. The nock is
+a boxwood plug inserted in the rear end, both joints being bound with
+silk floss and shellacked. The point is the copper nickel jacket of the
+present U. S. Army rifle bullet, of conical shape. The feathers are
+parabolic, three-quarters of an inch long by one-quarter high, three in
+number, set one inch from the end, and come from the wing of an owl.
+The whole arrow is thirty inches long, weighs three hundred and twenty
+grains, and is very rigid.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With this I have shot three hundred and one yards with a moderate wind
+at my back, using a Paraguay ironwood bow five feet two inches long,
+backed with hickory and weighing sixty pounds. This is my best flight
+shot.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is not advisable here to go further into this subject; let it stand
+that the English yew long bow is the highest type of artillery in the
+world.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Although the composite Turkish bows can shoot the farthest, it is only
+with very light arrows; they are incapable of projecting heavier shafts
+to the extent of the yew long bow, that is, they can transmit velocity
+but not momentum; they have resiliency, but not power.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Besides these experiments with bows, many tests were made of the flight
+and penetration of arrows. A few of the pertinent observations are here
+noted.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A light arrow from a heavy bow, say a sixty-five pound yew bow, travels
+at an initial velocity of one hundred and fifty feet per second, as
+determined by a stopwatch.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shooting at one hundred yards, such an arrow is discharged at an angle
+of eight degrees, and describes a parabola twelve to fifteen feet high
+at its crest. Its time in transit is of approximately two and one-fifth
+seconds.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shooting straight up, such an arrow goes about three hundred and fifty
+feet high, and requires eight seconds for the round trip. This test was
+made by shooting arrows over very tall sequoia trees, of known height.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The striking force of a one-ounce arrow shot from a seventy-five pound
+bow at ten yards, is twenty-five foot pounds. This test is made by
+shooting at a cake of paraffin and comparing the penetration with that
+made by falling weights. Such a striking force is, of course,
+insignificant when compared with that of a modern bullet, viz., three
+thousand foot pounds. Yet the damage done by an arrow armed with a
+sharp steel broad-head is often greater than that done by a bullet, as
+we shall see later on.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A standard English target arrow rotates during flight six complete
+revolutions every twenty yards, or approximately fifteen times a
+second. Heavy hunting shafts turn more slowly. This was ascertained by
+shooting two arrows at once from the same bow, their shafts being
+connected by a silk thread, so that one paid off as the other wound up
+the thread. The number of complete loops, of course, indicated the
+number of revolutions. A sand-bank makes a good butt to catch them. In
+rotating, much depends on the size and shape of the feather.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shooting a blunt arrow from a seventy-five pound bow at a white pine
+board an inch thick, the shaft will often go completely through it. A
+broad hunting head will penetrate two or three inches, then bind. But
+the broad-head will go through animal tissue better, even cutting bones
+in two; in fact, such an arrow will go completely through any animal
+but a pachyderm.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To test a steel bodkin pointed arrow such as was used at the battle of
+Cressy, I borrowed a shirt of chain armor from the Museum, a beautiful
+specimen made in Damascus in the 15th Century. It weighed twenty-five
+pounds and was in perfect condition. One of the attendants in the
+Museum offered to put it on and allow me to shoot at him. Fortunately,
+I declined his proffered services and put it on a wooden box, padded
+with burlap to represent clothing.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Indoors at a distance of seven yards, I discharged an arrow at it with
+such force that sparks flew from the links of steel as from a forge.
+The bodkin point and shaft went through the thickest portion of the
+back, penetrated an inch of wood and bulged out the opposite side of
+the armor shirt. The attendant turned a pale green. An arrow of this
+type can be shot about two hundred yards, and would be deadly up to the
+full limit of its flight.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The question of the cutting qualities of the obsidian head as compared
+to those of the sharpened steel head, was answered in the following
+experiment:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A box was so constructed that two opposite sides were formed by fresh
+deer skin tacked in place. The interior of the box was filled with
+bovine liver. This represented animal tissue minus the bones.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At a distance of ten yards I discharged an obsidian-pointed arrow and a
+steel-pointed arrow from a weak bow. The two missiles were alike in
+size, weight, and feathering, in fact, were made by Ishi, only one had
+the native head and the other his modern substitute. Upon repeated
+trials, the steel-headed arrow uniformly penetrated a distance of
+twenty-two inches from the front surface of the box, while the obsidian
+uniformly penetrated thirty inches, or eight inches farther,
+approximately 25 per cent better penetration. This advantage is
+undoubtedly due to the concoidal edge of the flaked glass operating
+upon the same principle that fluted-edged bread and bandage knives cut
+better than ordinary knives.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the same way we discovered that steel broad-heads sharpened by
+filing have a better meat-cutting edge than when ground on a stone.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In our experience with game shooting, we never could see the advantage
+of longitudinal grooves running down the shaft of the arrow, such as
+some aborigines use, supposed to promote bleeding. In the first place
+these marks are inadequate in depth, and secondly it is not the
+exterior bleeding that kills the wounded animal so much as the internal
+hemorrhage.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A sufficiently wide head on the arrow cuts a hole large enough to
+permit the escape of excess blood, and, as a matter of fact, nearly all
+of our shots are perforating, going completely through the body.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Conical, blunt, and bodkin points lack the power of penetration in
+animal tissue inherent in broad-heads; correspondingly they do less
+damage.
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<a href="images/58a.jpg"><img src="images/58ath.jpg" alt="THREE TYPES OF HUNTING ARROWS"></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<a href="images/58b.jpg"><img src="images/58bth.jpg" alt="A BLUNT ARROW SHOT THROUGH AN INCH BOARD"></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<a href="images/58c.jpg"><img src="images/58cth.jpg" alt="'BRER' FOX UP A TREE"></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<a href="images/58d.jpg"><img src="images/58dth.jpg" alt="ART YOUNG SHOOTS FISH"></a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Catlin, in his book on the North American Indian, relates that the
+Mandans, among other tribes, practiced shooting a number of arrows in
+succession with such dexterity that their best archer could keep eight
+arrows up in the air at one time.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Will Thompson, the dean of American archery, writing in <i>Forest and
+Stream</i> of March, 1915, says very definitely that the feat of the
+legendary hero, Hiawatha, who is supposed to have shot so strong and
+far that he could shoot the tenth arrow before the first descended, is
+manifestly absurd. Thompson contends that no man ever has, or ever will
+keep more than three arrows up in the air at once.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Having read this and determined to try the experiment of dextrous
+shooting, I constructed a dozen light arrows having wide nocks and
+flattened rear ends so they might be fingered quickly. Then I devised a
+way of grasping a supply of ready shafts in the bow hand, and invented
+an arrow release in which all the fingers and thumb held the arrow on
+the string, yet remained entirely on the right side of it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After quite a bit of practice in accurate, later in rapid, nocking, I
+succeeded in shooting seven successive arrows in the air before the
+first touched the ground. I used a perpendicular flight. Upon several
+occasions I almost accomplished eight at once. I feel that with
+considerable practice eight, and even more, are possible, proving again
+that there is an element of truth in all legends.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It has long been a bone of contention among archers which element of
+the yew, the sap wood or the heart, gives the greater cast. To obtain
+experimental evidence, I constructed two miniature bows, each
+twenty-two inches long, one of pure white sap wood, the other of the
+heart from the same stave. I made them the same size, and weighing
+about eight pounds when drawn eight inches.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shooting a little arrow on these bows, the sap wood shot forty-three
+yards; the red wood sixty-six yards, showing the greater cast to be in
+the red yew.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Corroborating this, Mr. Compton relates that while working in Barnes's
+shop in Forest Grove, Oregon, during the last illness of that noted
+bowyer, he came across a laminated bow made entirely of sap wood.
+Barnes stated that he had constructed it at the instigation of Will
+Thompson. The cast of this bow was slow, flabby, and weak. As a
+shooting implement it was a failure.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Taking two pieces of wood, one white and one red, each twelve inches
+long, I placed them in a bench vise and fastened a spring scale to the
+top of each. Drawing the sap wood four inches from the perpendicular,
+it pulled eight pounds. Drawing the heart wood the same distance it
+pulled fourteen pounds, showing the greater strength of the latter.
+When drawn five inches from a straight line, the red piece broke. The
+sap wood could be bent at a right angle without fracture.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is obvious from this that the sap wood excels in tensile strength
+the red wood in compression strength and resiliency. In fact, they are
+reciprocal in action. The red yew on the belly of the bow gives the
+energy, the sap wood preserves it from fracture. It is, in fact,
+equivalent to sinew backing, and though less durable, probably adds
+more to the cast of the bows.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In our experiments with a catgut and rawhide backing, we have not found
+that they add materially to the cast of a bow, only insure it against
+fracture. On the other hand, sap wood and hickory backing materially
+add to the power of the implement.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The little red yew bow used in the previous experiment was backed
+heavily with rawhide and catgut. It then weighed ten pounds, but only
+shot sixty-three yards, showing a decrease in cast. But the backing
+permitted its being drawn to ten inches, when it shot a distance of
+eighty-five yards. A draw of twelve inches fractured it across the
+handle.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In a similar experiment it was shown that two pieces of wood of the
+same size, but one being of a coarse-grained yew running sixteen lines
+to the inch, the other a fine-grained piece running thirty-five lines
+to the inch, the finer grain had the greater strength and resiliency up
+to the breaking point, but the yellow coarse-grained piece was more
+flexible and less readily broken.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The question often arises, "How would an arrow fly if the bow is held
+in a mechanical rest and the string released by a mechanical release?"
+Such an apparatus would permit of several experiments. It would answer
+some of the queries that naturally pass through the mind of every
+archer.
+
+<i>Question 1.</i> How accurate is the bow and arrow as a weapon of
+precision, or as they say in ballistics, "What is the error of
+dispersion?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>Question 2.</i> What is the angle of declination to the left of the point
+of aim in the flight of such an arrow?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>Question 3.</i> What is the effect of placing the cock feather next the
+bow?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>Question 4.</i> What is the effect of shooting different arrows? How do
+they group? Would not such a machine give accurate data regarding the
+flight of new arrows and help in the selection of shafts for target
+shooting?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>Question 5.</i> What effect does the time of holding a bow full drawn
+have on the flight of an arrow?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>Question 6.</i> What is the result of changing the weight of bows when
+the arrows remain the same?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Therefore, we devised a rest, consisting of a post set firmly in the
+ground, with a rigid cross arm and a vise-like hand grip. This latter
+was padded thickly with rubber, so that some resiliency was permitted.
+The bow was fastened in this mechanical hand by sturdy set screws.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At the other end of the cross arm a hinged block was attached, from
+which projected two short wooden fingers, serving the exact function of
+the drawing hand. These were spaced so that the arrow nock fitted
+between them, and when the string was pulled into position and caught
+upon these fingers, the bow was drawn 28 inches.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We adopted a system of loading, drawing and releasing on count, so that
+every shot was delivered with equal time factors.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>Answer 1.</i> Using the same arrow each time, with the target set at 60
+yards, we found, of course, that the arrow always flies to the left
+when drawn on the left side of the bow, and that the angle of
+divergence for a 50 pound bow and a 5 shilling English target arrow was
+between six and seven degrees. Using a stronger bow this angle was
+increased,--also that with a weaker arrow the angle was greater,--but
+six degrees might be designated as the normal declination.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>Answer 2.</i> Every rifle expert knows what his gun is capable of, in
+accuracy, and an archer should know just what to expect of an arrow
+under the most favorable conditions. We therefore tried shooting the
+same arrow over the same course with the same release, under these
+fairly stable conditions: The day was calm. We shot an arrow ten times
+in succession and all the shots centered in a six inch bull's-eye; that
+is, none went out of a circle of this diameter. In other words, at
+sixty yards a bow can shoot arrows with an error of dispersion of no
+more than six inches. This is surprisingly accurate for a weapon of
+this sort, when it is considered that the best rifles of today will
+average between one and a half to three inches dispersion at 100 yards.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>Answer 3.</i> Placing the cock feather next the bow diverts the arrow to
+the left and causes it to drop lower on the target. The group formed by
+six flights was fairly close and consistent.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>Answer 4.</i> Out of nine arrows tested, five consistently made a good
+close group and four as consistently went out. The "outs," however,
+were uniform in the direction and distance they took. It would be
+possible by this machine to select arrows that would make co-incidental
+patterns. It is obvious, however, that differences in individual arrows
+are greatly exaggerated by the apparatus, because it was quite apparent
+by this test that any good archer could group these hits much closer
+than the machine delivered them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>Answer 5.</i> In our shooting, we universally allotted five seconds for
+drawing, setting and discharging. However, when this time was increased
+to fifteen seconds, we found that our groups averaged seven and
+one-half inches lower. This shows the decided loss of cast incidental
+to long holding of the bow.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>Answer 6.</i> Placing a 65 pound bow in the frame immediately showed
+increased reactions throughout. The lateral divergence in arrow flight
+was increased to fifteen degrees and all individual reactions were
+correspondingly increased. The flight of the individual arrow was less
+consistent, showing plainly the necessity of a proper relation in
+weight between the arrow and bow,--a very essential factor in accurate
+shooting.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In conclusion, it seems to me that the machine naturally exaggerated
+the errors, for this reason. If the pressure of the arrow against the
+bow, in passing, amounts to two ounces, the arrow will fly a two ounce
+equivalent to the left, when the bow is held rigidly. An arrow that
+exerts four ounces pressure will fly correspondingly a greater distance
+to the left. But when the bow is held in the hand, there is
+considerable give to the muscles and the two ounce pressure is
+compensated for; thus, the arrow tends to fly straight. The four ounce
+arrow would with the same adjustment hold a correspondingly straighter
+course.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The vertical error, however, depends more on the weight of the arrow,
+on the feathering, the holding time, the maintainance of tension, and
+on the release of the bowstring.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There are many problems in the ballistics of archery that are unsolved,
+waiting the experiments of modern science. Empirical methods have
+dictated the art so far. In target equipment and shooting there is a
+wide field for investigation. Our interests, however, are more those of
+the hunter, and less those of the physicist.
+</p>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<h2><a name="v">V</a></h2>
+
+<h3>HOW TO MAKE A BOW</h3>
+
+<p>
+Every field archer should make his own tackle. If he cannot make and
+repair it, he will never shoot very long, because it is in constant
+need of repair.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Target bows and arrows may be bought in sporting stores, here or in
+England, but hunting equipment must be made. Moreover, when a man
+manufactures his bow and arrows, he appreciates them more. But it will
+take many attempts before even the most mechanically gifted can expect
+to produce good artillery. After having made more than a hundred yew
+bows, I still feel that I am a novice. The beginner may expect his
+first two or three will be failures, but after that he can at least
+shoot them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Since there are so many different kinds of bows and all so inferior to
+the English long-bow, we shall describe this alone.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Yew wood is the greatest bow timber in the world. That was proved
+thousands of years ago by experience. It is indeed a magic wood!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But yew wood is hard to get and hard to make into a bow once having got
+it. Nevertheless, I am going to tell you where you can get it and how
+to work it, and how to make hunting bows just as we use them today, and
+presumably just as our forefathers used them before us. Later on I
+shall tell you what substitutes may be used for yew.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The best yew wood in America grows in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon,
+in the Sierra Nevada and Coast Ranges of northern California. By
+addressing the Department of Forestry, doubtless one can get in
+communication with some one who will cut him a stave. Living in
+California, I cut my own.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A description of yew trees and their location may be had from
+Sudworth's "<i>Forest Trees of the Pacific Slope</i>," to be obtained from
+the Government Printing Office at Washington.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+My own staves I cut near Branscomb, Mendocino County, and at Grizzly
+Creek on the Van Duzen River, Humboldt County, California. Splendid
+staves have been shipped to me from this latter county, coming from the
+neighborhood of Korbel.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Yew is an evergreen tree with a leaf looking a great deal like that of
+redwood, hemlock, or fir at a distance. It is found growing in the
+mountains, down narrow canyons, and along streams. It likes shade,
+water, and altitude. Its bark is reddish beneath and scaly or fuzzy on
+the surface. Its limbs stand straight out from the trunk at an acute
+angle, not drooping as those of the redwood and fir.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The sexes are separate in yew. The female tree has a bright red
+gelatinous berry in autumn, and the male a minute cone. It is
+interesting that in bear countries the female trees often have long
+wounds in the bark, or deep scratches made by the claws of these
+animals as they climb to get the yew berries. It is also stated by some
+authorities that the female yew has light yellow wood, is coarser
+grained, and does not make so good a bow. I have tried to verify this,
+but so far I have found some of my bear marked female yew to be the
+better staves.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The best wood is, of course, dark and close grained. This generally
+exists in trees that have one side decayed. It seems that the rot
+stains the rest of the wood and nature makes the grain more compact to
+compensate for the loss of structural strength. It is also apparent
+that yew grown at high altitudes, over three thousand feet, is superior
+to lowland yew.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In selecting a tree for a hunting bow, the stave must be at least six
+feet long, free from limbs, knots, twists, pitch pockets, rot, small
+sprouting twigs and corrugations. One will look over a hundred trees to
+find one good bow stave; then he may find a half dozen excellent staves
+in one tree.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There is no such thing as a perfect piece of yew, nor is there a
+perfect bow; at least, I have never seen it. But there is a bow in
+every yew tree if we but know how to get it out. That is the mystery of
+bowmaking. It takes an artist, not an artisan.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Before one ever fells a tree, he should weigh the moral right to do so.
+But yew trees are a gift from the gods, and grown only for bows. If you
+are sure you see one good bow in a tree, cut it. Having felled it and
+marked with your eye the best stave, cut it again so that your stave is
+seven feet long. Then split the trunk into halves or quarters with
+steel or wooden wedges so that your stave is from three to six inches
+wide. Cut out the heart wood so that the billet is about three inches
+thick. Be careful not to bruise the bark in any of these operations.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now put your stave in the shade. If you are compelled to ship it by
+express, wrap it in burlap or canvas, and preferably saw the ends
+square and paint them to prevent checking. When you get it home put it
+in the cellar.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+If you must make a bow right away, place the stave in running water for
+a month, then dry in a shady place for a month, and it is ready for
+use. It will not be so good as if seasoned three to seven years, but it
+will shoot; in fact, it will shoot the same day you cut it from the
+tree, only it will follow the string and not stand straight as it
+should. Of course, it will not have the cast of air-seasoned wood.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The old authorities say, cut your yew in the winter when the sap is
+down, or as Barnes, the famous bow-maker of Forest Grove, Oregon, used
+to say: "Yew cut in the summer contains the seeds of death." But this
+does not seem to have proved the case in my experience. I am fully
+convinced that the sap can be washed out and the process of seasoning
+hastened very materially by proper treatment.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Kiln dried wood is never good as a bow. It is too brash; but after the
+first month of shade, the staves may be put in a hot attic to their
+advantage.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In selecting the portion of the tree best suited for a bow, choose that
+part that when cut will cause the stave to bend backward toward the
+bark. Since your bow ultimately will bend in the opposite direction,
+this natural curve tends to form a straighter bow, or as an archer
+would say "set back a bit in the handle."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+If it is impossible to get a stave six feet in length, then a wide
+stave three and a half feet long may be used. It is necessary in this
+case to split it and join the two pieces with a fishtail splice in the
+handle. Target bows are made this way, to advantage, but such a
+makeshift is to be deprecated in a hunting bow. The variations of
+temperature and moisture combined with hard usage in hunting demand a
+solid, single stave. It must not break. Your life may depend upon it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Before engaging in any art, it is necessary to study the anatomy of
+your subject. The anatomical points of a bow have a time-honored
+nomenclature and are as follows: Bows may be single staves, or
+one-piece bows, those of one continuity and homogeneity; spliced bows
+consist of two pieces of wood united in the handle; backed bows have an
+added strip of wood glued on the back; and composite bows are made up
+of several different substances, such as wood, horn, sinew, and glue.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+That surface of the bow which faces the string when drawn into action,
+that is, the concave arc, is called the belly of the bow. The opposite
+surface is the back. A bow should never be bent backwards, away from
+the belly; it will break.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The center of the bow is the handle or hand grip; the extremities are
+the tips, usually finished with notches cut in the wood or surmounted
+by horn, bone, sinew, wooden or metal caps called nocks. These are
+grooved to accommodate the string. The spaces between the nocks and the
+handle are called the limbs.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A bow that when unstrung bends back past the straight line is termed
+reflexed. One that continues to bend toward the belly is said to follow
+the string. A lateral deviation is called a cast in the bow.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The proper length of a yew bow should be the height of the man that
+shoots it, or a trifle less. Our hunting bows are from five feet six
+inches to five feet eight inches in length. The weight of a hunting bow
+should be from fifty to eighty pounds. One should start shooting with a
+bow not over fifty pounds, and preferably under that. At the end of a
+season's shooting he can command a bow of sixty pounds if he is a
+strong man. Our average bows pull seventy-five pounds. Though it is
+possible for some of us to shoot an eighty-five pound bow, such a
+weapon is not under proper control for constant use.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Some pieces of yew will make a stronger bow at given dimensions than
+others. The finer the grain and the greater the specific gravity, the
+more resilient and active the wood, and stronger the bow.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Taking a yew stave having a dark red color and a layer of white sap
+wood about a quarter of an inch thick, covered with a thin
+maroon-colored bark, let us make a bow. Counting the rings in the wood
+at the upper end of the stave, you will find that they run over forty
+to the inch.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Ishi insisted that this end of the stave should always be the upper end
+of the weapon. It seems to me that this extremity having the most
+compact grain, and the strongest, should constitute the lower limb,
+because, as we shall see later on, this limb is shorter, bears the
+greater strain, and is the one that gives down the sooner.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We shall plan to make the bow as strong as is compatible with good
+shooting, and reduce its strength later to meet our requirements.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Look over the stave and estimate whether it is capable of yielding two
+bows instead of one. If it be over three inches wide, and straight
+throughout, then rip it down the center with a saw. Place one stave in
+a bench vise and carefully clean off the bark with a draw knife. Do not
+cut the sap wood in this process.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Cut your stave to six feet in length. Sight down it and see how the
+plane of the back twists. If it is fairly consistent, draw a straight
+line down the center of the sap wood. This is the back of your bow. Now
+draw on the back an outline which has a width of an inch and a quarter
+extending for a distance of a foot above and a foot below the center.
+Let this outline taper in a gentle curve to the extremities of the bow,
+where it has a width of three-quarters of an inch. This will serve as a
+rough working plan and is sufficiently large to insure that you will
+get a strong weapon.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With the draw knife, and later a jack plane, cut the lateral surfaces
+down to this outline. The back must stand a tremendous tensile strain
+and the grain of the wood should not be injured in any way. But you may
+smooth it off very judiciously with a spoke shave, and later with a
+file. The transverse contour of this part of the bow remains as it was
+in the tree, a long flat arc.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shift the stave in the vise so that the sap wood is downward, and set
+it so that the average plane of the sap is level. With the raw knife
+shave the wood very carefully, avoiding cutting too deeply or splitting
+off fragments, until the bow assumes the thickness of one and
+one-quarter inches in the center and this decreases as it approaches
+the tips, where it is half an inch thick.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The shape of a cross-section of the belly of the bow should be a full
+Roman arch. Many debates have centered on the shape of this part of the
+weapon. Some contend for a high-crested contour, or Gothic arch, what
+is termed "stacking a bow"; some have chosen a very flat curve as the
+best. The former makes for a quick, lively cast and may be desirable in
+a target implement, but it is liable to fracture; the latter makes a
+soft, pleasant, durable bow, but one that follows the string. Choose
+the happy medium.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The process of shaping the belly is the most delicate and requires more
+skill than all the rest. In the first place you must follow the grain
+of the wood. If the back twists and undulates, your cut must do the
+same. The feather of the grain must never be reversed, but descend by
+perfect gradation from handle to tip.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Where a knot or pin occurs in the wood, here you must leave more
+substance because this is a weak spot. If the pin be large and you
+cannot avoid it, then it is best to drill it out carefully and fill the
+cavity with a solid piece of hard wood set in with glue. A pin crumbles
+while an inserted piece will stand the strain. If such a "Dutchman" be
+not too large nor too near the center of either limb, it will not
+materially jeopardize the bow. If, in your shaving, you come across a
+sharp dip in' the grain, such that will make a decided concavity, here
+leave a few more layers of grain than you would were the contour even;
+for a concave structure cannot stand strain as well as a straight one;
+the leverage is increased unduly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The following measurements, with a caliper, are those of my favorite
+hunting bow, called "Old Horrible," and with which I've slain many a
+beast. The width just above the handle is 1-1/4 by 1-1/8 inches thick.
+Six inches up the limb the width is 1-1/4, thickness 11-1/16.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Twelve inches above the handle it is a trifle less than 1-1/4 wide by 1
+inch thick. Eighteen inches above the handle it is 1-1/8 wide by 7/8
+thick. Twenty-four inches above it is 15/16 wide by 3/4 thick. Thirty
+inches above it is 11/16 by 9/16 thick. At the nock it is practically
+1/2 by 1/2 inches.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Having got the bow down to rough proportions, the next thing is to cut
+two temporary nocks on it, very near the ends. These consist in lateral
+cuts having a depth of an eighth of an inch and are best made with a
+rat tail file.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now you can string your bow and test its curve.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Of course, you must have a string, and usually that employed in these
+early tests is very strong and roughly made of nearly ninety strands of
+Barbour's linen, No. 12. Directions for making strings will be given
+later on.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is difficult to brace a new heavy bow and one will require
+assistance. In the absence of help he can place it in the vise, one of
+those revolving on a pivot, and having the string properly adjusted on
+the lower limb, pull on the upper end in such a way that the other
+presses against the wall or a stationary brace, thus bending the bow
+while you slip the expectant loop over the open nock. Or you can have
+an assistant pull on the upper nock, while you brace the bow yourself.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In ancient times, at this stage, the bow was tillered, or tested for
+its curve, or, as Sir Roger Ascham says, "brought round compass," which
+means to make it bend in a perfect arc when full drawn.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The tiller is a piece of board three feet long, two inches wide, and
+one inch thick, having a V-shaped notch at the lower end to fit on the
+handle and small notches on its side two inches apart, for a distance
+of twenty-eight inches. These are to hold the string.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lay the braced bow on the floor, place the end of the tiller on the
+handle while you steady the tiller upright. Then put your foot on the
+bow next the tiller and draw the string up until it slips in the first
+notch, say twelve inches from the handle. If the curve of the bow is
+fairly symmetrical, draw the string a few inches more. If again it
+describes a perfect arc raise the string still farther. A perfect arc
+for a bow should be a trifle flat at the center. If, on the other hand,
+one limb or a part of it does not bend as it should, this must be
+reduced carefully by shaving it for a space of several inches over the
+spot and the bow tested again.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Proceeding very cautiously, at the same time not keeping the bow full
+drawn more than a second or two at a time, you ultimately get the two
+limbs so that they bend nearly the same and the general distribution of
+the curve is equal throughout.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As a matter of fact, a great deal of experience is needed here. By
+marking a correct form on the floor with chalk, a novice may fit his
+bow to this outline.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The perfect weapon is a trifle stiff at the center and the lower limb a
+shade stronger than the upper.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The real shooting center, the place where the arrow passes, is actually
+one and one-quarter inches above the geographic center, and the hand
+consequently is below this point. Your finished hand grip, being four
+inches long, will be one and a quarter inches above the center and two
+and three-quarters below the center. This makes the lower limb
+comparatively shorter, so it must be relatively stronger. Your bow,
+therefore, when full drawn should be symmetrical, but when simply
+braced, the bend of the upper limb is perceptibly greater than the
+stronger lower limb.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+You will find the bow we have made will pull over eighty pounds, even
+after it is thoroughly broken to the string. It is necessary,
+therefore, to reduce it further. This is done with a spoke shave, a
+very small hand plane or a file. Ultimately I use a pocket knife as a
+scraper, and sandpaper and steelwool to finish it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Your effort must be to get every part of the wood to do its work, for
+every inch is under utmost strain, and one part doing more than the
+rest must ultimately break down, sustain a compression fracture, or, as
+an archer would say, "chrysal or fret."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"A bow full drawn is seven-eighths broken," said old Thomas Waring, the
+English bowmaker, and he was right. Draw your bow three inches more
+than the standard cloth yard of twenty-eight inches and you break it.
+It is more accurate to say that a full drawn bow is nine-tenths broken.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is also essential that the bow be stiff in the handle so that it
+will be rigid in shooting and not jar or kick, which one weak at this
+point invariably does.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A bow should be light at the tips, say the last eight inches, which is
+accomplished by rounding the back slightly and reducing the width at
+this point. This gives an active recoil, or as it is described, "whip
+ended." This can be overdone, especially in hunting-bows, where a
+little more solidity and safety are preferable to a brilliant cast.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And so you must work and test your bow, and shoot it, and draw it up
+before a full length mirror and observe its outline, and get your
+friends to draw it up and pass judgment on it. In fact, while the
+actual work of making a bow takes about eight hours, it requires months
+to get one adjusted so that it is good. A bow, like a violin, is a work
+of art. The best in it can only be brought out by infinite care. Like a
+violin, it is all curved contours, there is not a straight line in it.
+Many of my bows have been built over completely three or four times.
+Old Horrible first pulled eighty-five pounds. It was reduced,
+shortened, whip ended, and worked over again and again so to tune the
+wood that all parts acted in harmony. Every good bow is a work of love.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Your bow is now ready to shoot, but let us weigh it first. Brace it and
+put it horizontally in the vise with the string facing you. Take a
+spring scale registering at least eighty pounds and catch the hook
+under the string. Draw it until the yardstick registers twenty-eight
+inches from the string to the back of the bow. Now read the scale; that
+is its weight.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As a matter of convenience I have devised a stick that facilitates the
+weighing. I take a dowel and attach to one end by glue and binding a
+bent piece of iron so fashioned that the extremity serves as a hook to
+draw the string and the bent portion permits the attachment of the
+scale. The dowel is marked off in inches so that one can test different
+lengths of draw. With the bow in the bench vise, this measure hooked on
+the string and resting on the bow at the arrow plate, the scale is
+hooked in place, the dowel drawn down to the standard length and the
+registered weight read off on the scale.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+If you still find that your bow is too strong for you, it must be
+further reduced. Begin all over again with the spoke shave and the
+file, trying to correct any inequalities that may have existed before
+and reducing it to what ultimately will be sixty-five pounds. Put on
+the string and weigh it again and again until you get the weight you
+want. If you have reduced it too much, cut it down two or four inches;
+it will be stronger and shoot better.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+All yew bows tend to lose in strength after much use, and your new one
+should pull five pounds more than the required weight. If a bow is put
+away in a dry, warm place for several years it nearly always increases
+in strength. In our experience one in constant use lasts from three to
+five years. The longer the bow, the longer its life. Some, of course,
+break or come to grief after a short period, others live to honorable
+old age. Yew bows are in existence today that were made many thousands
+of years ago, but, of course, they would break if shot. Many bows over
+one hundred years old are still in use occasionally. I have estimated
+that the average life of a good bow should exceed one hundred thousand
+shots, after which time it begins to fret and show other signs of
+weakness.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Keeping in mind the idea of making your weapon as beautiful, as
+symmetrical and resilient as possible, free from dead or overstrained
+areas, work it down with utmost solicitude until it approaches your
+ideal. Smooth it with sandpaper; finish it with steelwool.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now comes the process of putting on the nocks. A bow shoots well
+without them, but is safer with them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From time immemorial, horn tips have been put on the ends of the limbs
+to hold the string. We have used rawhide, hardwood, aluminum, bone, elk
+horn, deer horn, buffalo horn, paper fiber or composition, and cow's
+horn. The last seems best of all. From your butcher secure a number of
+horns. With a saw cut off three or four inches of the tip. Place one in
+a vise and drill a conical hole in it an inch and a quarter deep and
+half an inch wide. This can be done by using a half-inch drill which
+has been ground on a carborundum stone to a conical point the proper
+length. In this hole set a stout piece of wood with glue. This permits
+you to hold the horn in the vise while you work it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After the glue has set, take a coarse file and shape the horn nock to
+the classical shape, which is hard to describe but easy to illustrate.
+It must have diagonal grooves to hold the string. The nock for the
+upper limb has also a hole at its extremity to receive the buckskin
+thong which keeps the upper loop of the string from slipping too far
+down the bow when unbraced.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The nocks for hunting bows should be short and stout, not over one and
+a half inches long, for they get a lot of hard usage in their travels.
+They should also be broader and thicker than those used on target bows.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Two nocks having been roughly finished, they are loosened from their
+wooden handles by being soaked in boiling water, and are ready for use.
+Cut the ends of the bow to fit the nocks in such a way that they tip
+slightly backward when in place, but do not attach them yet.
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<a href="images/79.jpg"><img src="images/79th.jpg" alt="DETAILS OF BOW CONSTRUCTION"></a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At this point we back the bow with rawhide. Ordinarily a yew bow
+properly protected by sapwood requires no backing; but having had many
+bows break in our hands, we at last took the advice of Ishi and backed
+them. Since then no bow legitimately used has broken.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The rawhide utilized for this purpose is known to tanners as clarified
+calfskin. Its principal use is in the manufacture of artificial limbs,
+drum heads and parchment. Its thickness is not much more than that of
+writing paper.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Having secured two pieces about three feet in length and two inches
+wide, soak them in warm water for an hour.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While this is being done, slightly roughen the back of your bow with a
+file. Place it in the vise and size the back with thin, hot carpenter's
+glue. When the hide is soft, lay the pieces smooth side down on a board
+and wipe off the excess water. Quickly size them with hot glue, remove
+the excess with your finger, turn the pieces over and apply them to the
+bow. Overlap them at the hand grip for a distance of two or three
+inches. Smooth them out toward the tips by stroking and expressing all
+air bubbles and excess glue. Wrap the handle roughly with string to
+keep the strips from slipping; also bind the tips for a short distance
+to secure them in place. Remove the bow from the vise and bandage it
+carefully from tip to tip with a gauze surgical bandage. Set it aside
+to dry over night. When dry, remove the bandage and string binding, cut
+off the overlapping edges of the hide and scrape it smooth. Having got
+it to the required finish, size the exterior again with very thin glue,
+and it is ready for the final stage.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The tips of the bow having been cut to a conical point and the nocks
+fitted prior to the backing process the horn nocks are now set on with
+glue; the ordinary liquid variety will do.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Glue a thin strip of wood on the back of the bow to round out the
+handle. This should be about one-eighth of an inch thick, one inch wide
+and three inches long and rounded at the edges.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bind the center of your bow with heavy fish line to make the handgrip,
+carefully overlapping the start and finish. A little liquid glue or
+shellac can be placed on the wood to fix the serving. Some prefer
+leather or pigskin for a handgrip, but a cord binding keeps the hand
+from sweating and has an honest feel.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The handle occupies a space of four inches with one and a quarter
+inches above the center and two and three-quarters below it. Finish off
+the edges of the cord binding with a band of thin leather half an inch
+wide. This should be soaked in water, beveled at the edge, sized with
+glue, put around the bow, and overlapped at the back. I also glue a
+small piece of leather on the left-hand side of the bow above the
+handle to prevent the arrow chafing the wood at this spot. This is
+called the arrow plate and usually is made of mother-of-pearl or bone;
+leather is better. These finishing pieces are wrapped temporarily with
+string until they dry.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The bow is then given a final treatment with scraper and steelwool and
+is ready for the varnish.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The best protection for bows seems to be spar varnish. This keeps out
+moisture. It has two disadvantages, however; it cracks after much
+bending, and it is too shiny. The glint or flash of a hunting bow will
+frighten game. I have often seen rabbits or deer stand until the bow
+goes off, then jump in time to escape the arrow. At first we believed
+they saw the arrow; later we found that they saw the flash. Bows really
+should be painted a dull green or drab color. But we love to see the
+natural grain of the wood.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The finish I prefer is first of all to give a coat of shellac to the
+backing, leather trimmings and cord handle. After it is dry, give the
+wood a good soaking with boiled linseed oil. Using the same oiled cloth
+place in its center a small wad of cotton saturated with an alcoholic
+solution of shellac. Rub this quickly over the bow. By repeated oiling
+and shellacking one produces a French polish that is very durable and
+elastic.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Permit this to dry and after several days rub the whole weapon with
+floor wax, giving a final polish with a woolen cloth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When on a hunt one should carry a small quantity of linseed oil and
+anoint his bow every day or so with it. Personally I add one part of
+light cedar oil to two parts of linseed. The fragrance of the former
+adds to the pleasure of using the latter.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When not in use hang your bow on a peg or nail slipped beneath the
+upper loop of the string; do not stand it in a corner, this tends to
+bend the lower limb. Keep it in a warm, dry room; preserve it from
+bruises and scratches. Wax it and the string often. Care for it as you
+would a friend; it is your companion in arms.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+SUBSTITUTES FOR YEW
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Where it is impossible to obtain yew, the amateur bowyer has a large
+variety of substitutes. Probably the easiest to obtain is hickory,
+although it is a poor alternative. I believe the pig-nut or smooth bark
+is the best variety. One should endeavor to get a piece of second
+growth, white sapwood, and split it so as to get straight grain.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This can be worked on the same general dimensions as yew, but the
+resulting bow will be found slow and heavy in cast and to have an
+incurable tendency to follow the string. It will need no rawhide back
+and will never break.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Osage orange, mulberry, locust, black walnut with the sap wood, red
+cedar, juniper, tan oak, apple wood, ash, eucalyptus, lancewood,
+washaba, palma brava, elm, birch, and bamboo are among the many woods
+from which bows have been made.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With the exception of lancewood, lemon wood, or osage orange, which are
+hard to get, the next best wood to yew is red Tennessee cedar backed
+with hickory.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Go to a lumber yard and select a plank of cedar having the fewest knots
+and the straightest grain. Saw or split a piece out of it six feet
+long, two inches wide, and about an inch thick. Plane it straight and
+roughen its two-inch surface with a file. Obtain a strip of white
+straight-grained hickory six feet long, two inches wide, and a quarter
+inch thick.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Roughen one surface, spread these two rough surfaces with a good liquid
+glue and place them together. With a series of clamps compress them
+tightly. In the absence of clamps, a pile of bricks or weights may be
+used. After several days it will be dry enough to work.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From this point on it may be treated the same as yew. The hickory
+backing takes the place of the sap wood.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Cedar has a soft, lively cast and the hickory backing makes it almost
+unbreakable.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This bow should be bound with linen or silk every few inches like a
+fishing rod. Several coats of varnish will keep the glue from being
+affected by moisture or rain.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Since both woods are usually obtainable at any lumber yard, there
+should be no difficulty in the matter save the mechanical factors
+involved. These only add zest to the problem. A true archer must be a
+craftsman.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+MAKING A BOWSTRING
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A bow without a string is dead; therefore, we must set to work to make
+one.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Sinew, catgut, and rawhide strings were used by the early archers, but
+have been abandoned by the more modern. Animal tissue stretches when it
+is put under strain or subjected to heat and moisture. Silk makes a
+good string, but it is short-lived and is not so strong as linen.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A comparative test of various strings was made to determine which
+material is the strongest for bows. Number 3 surgical catgut is
+apparently a D string on the violin. Taking this as a standard
+diameter, a series of waxed strings of various substances were made and
+tested on a spring scale for their breaking point. The results are as
+follows:
+</p>
+
+<pre>
+    Horsehair            breaks at 15 pounds.
+    Cotton               breaks at 18 pounds.
+    Catgut               breaks at 20 pounds.
+    Silk                 breaks at 22 pounds.
+    Irish linen          breaks at 28 pounds.
+    Chinese grass fiber  breaks at 32 pounds.
+</pre>
+
+<p>
+This latter, with similar unusual fibers, is not on the market in the
+form of thread, so is of no practical use to us.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We use Irish linen or shoemakers' thread. It is Barbour's Number 12.
+Each thread will stand a strain of six pounds; therefore, a bowstring
+of fifty strands will suspend a weight of 300 pounds.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A target bow may have a proportionately lighter string than a hunting
+bow because here a quick cast is desired; but in hunting, security is
+necessary. We therefore allow one strand of linen for every pound of
+the bow.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This is the method of manufacturing a bowstring as devised by the late
+Mr. Maxson and described in <i>American Archery</i>. Some few alterations
+have been introduced to simplify the technique.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is advisable to take the threads in your hands as you follow the
+directions.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+If you propose making a string for a sixty-five-pound bow, it should
+have about sixty threads in it, and these are divided into three
+strands of twenty threads each. Start making the first of these strands
+by measuring off on the bow a length eight inches beyond each end--that
+is, sixteen inches longer than your bow. Double your thread back,
+drawing it through your hand until you reach the beginning. Now repeat
+the process of laying one thread with another, back and forth, until
+twenty are in the strand. But these must be so arranged that each is
+about half an inch shorter than the preceding, thus making the end of
+the strand tapered.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When twenty are thus stroked into one cord, they are heavily waxed by
+drawing the strand through the hand and wax, from center to the ends,
+each way. Now roll the greater part of this strand about your fingers
+and make a little coil which you compress, but allow about twenty-four
+inches to remain free and uncoiled. Thus abbreviated it is easier to
+handle in the subsequent process of twisting it into a cord.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Make two other strands exactly like this, roll them into a compressed
+coil and lay them aside. Now to form the loop or eye it is necessary to
+thicken the string at this point with an additional splice. So lay out
+another strand of twenty threads six feet long. Cut this into six
+pieces, each twelve inches in length. Take one of these and so pull the
+ends of the threads that they are made of uneven length, or that the
+ends become tapered. Wax this splice thoroughly; do this to each one in
+turn.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now pick up one of your original strands and apply to its tapered end
+and lying along the last foot of its length one of the above described
+splices. Wax the two together. So treat the two other strands.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Grasp the three cords together in your left hand at a point nine inches
+from the end. With the right hand pick up one strand near this point
+and twist it between the thumb and finger, away from you, rolling it
+tight, at the same time pulling it toward you. Seize another strand,
+twist it from you and pull it toward you. Continue this process with
+each in succession, and you will find that you are making a rope. By
+the time the rope is three inches in length, it is long enough to fold
+on itself and constitute a loop. Proceed to double it back so that the
+loose ends of the strands are mated and waxed into cohesion with the
+three main strands of the string. Arrange them nicely so that they
+interlace properly and are evenly applied.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now while being seated, slip the upper limb of your bow under your
+right knee and over the left, and drop the new formed loop of your
+string over the horn nock. Begin again the process of twisting each
+strand away from you while you pull it toward you. Continue the motion
+until you have run down the string a distance of eight inches. During
+the process you will see the wisdom of having rolled the excess string
+up into little skeins to keep them from being tangled. Thus the upper
+eye is formed. At this stage unwind your skeins and stretch the string
+down the bow, untwisting and drawing straight the three strands.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Seize them now three inches below the lower nock of your bow. At this
+point apply the short splices for the lower loop. They should be so
+laid on that three inches extends up the string from this point and the
+rest lies along the tapered extremity. Wax them tight. Hold the three
+long strands together while you give them final equalizing traction.
+Start here and twist your second loop, drawing each strand toward you
+as you twist it away from you until a rope of three inches is formed
+again. This you double back on itself, mate its tapered extremities
+with the three long strands of the string and wax them together.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Slip the upper loop down your bow and nock the lower loop on the lower
+horn. Swing your right knee over the bow below the string and set the
+loop on this horn while you work. Give the string plenty of slack.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Start again the twisting and pulling operation, keeping the strands
+from tangles while you form the lower splice of the string. When it is
+eight inches long, take off the loop and unroll the twist in the main
+body of the string. Replace the loop and brace your bow. This will take
+the kinks from the cord. Wax it thoroughly and, removing the lower
+loop, twist the entire bowstring in the direction of the previous
+maneuver until it is shortened to the proper length to fit the bow.
+Nock the string again and, taking a thick piece of paper, fold it into
+a little pad and rub the bowstring vigorously until it assumes a round,
+well-waxed condition.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+If the loops are properly placed, the final twisting should make one
+complete rotation of the string in a distance of one or two inches. A
+closer twist tends to cut itself.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+If, by mistake, the string is too short or too long, and adjusting the
+twist does not correct it, then you must undo the last loop to overcome
+the error. The fork of these loops is often bound with waxed carpet
+thread to reduce their size and strengthen them. The whole structure at
+this point may be served with the same thread to protect it from
+becoming chafed and worn.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The center of the string and the nocking point for the arrow must now
+be served with waxed silk, linen, or cotton thread to protect it from
+becoming worn.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Ordinarily we take a piece of red carpet thread or shoe button thread,
+about two yards in length, wax it thoroughly and double it. Start with
+the doubled end, threading the free end through it around the string,
+and wind it over, from right to left. The point of starting this
+serving is two and one-half inches above the center of the bowstring.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When you come to the nocking point, or that at which an arrow stands
+perpendicular to the string while crossing the bow at the top of the
+handle, make a series of overlapping threads or clove hitches. This
+will form a little lump or knot on the string at this point. Continue
+serving for half an inch and repeat this maneuver; again continue the
+serving down the string for a distance of four or five inches,
+finishing with a fixed lashing by drawing the thread under the last two
+or three wraps.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A nocking point of this character has two advantages: the first is that
+you can feel it readily while nocking an arrow in the dark or while
+keeping your eye on the game, and the other point is that the knots
+prevent the arrow being dislodged while walking through the brush.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We have found that by heating our beeswax and adding about one-quarter
+rosin, it makes it more adhesive.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In hot or wet weather it is of some advantage to rub the string with an
+alcoholic solution of shellac. Compounds containing glue or any hard
+drying substance seem to cause the strings to break more readily.
+Paraffin, talcum powder, or a bit of tallow candle rubbed on the
+serving and nocking point is useful in making a clean release of the
+string.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So far as dampness and rain go, these never interfere with the action
+of the string. A well-greased bow will stand considerable water, though
+arrows suffer considerably.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Wax your string every few days if in use; you should always carry an
+extra one with you.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Strings break most commonly at the nocking point beneath the serving.
+Here they sustain the greatest strain and are subject to most bending.
+An inspection at this point frequently should be done. An impending
+break is indicated by an uneven contour of the strands beneath the
+serving. Discard it before it actually breaks.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+By putting a spring scale between one of the bow nocks and the end of
+the string, the unexpected phenomenon is demonstrated that there is
+greater tension on a string when the bow is braced but not drawn up. A
+fifty-six pound bow registers a sixty-four pound tension on the string.
+As the arrow is drawn up the tension decreases gradually until
+twenty-six inches are drawn, when it registers sixty-four pounds again.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At the moment of recoil, when the bow springs back into position, this
+strain must rise tremendously, for if the arrow be not in place the
+string frequently will be broken.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The tension on the string at the center or nocking point during the
+process of drawing a bow--that is, the accumulated weight--rises quite
+differently in different bows. The arrow being nocked on the string, it
+is ordinarily already six inches drawn across the bow. Now in the same
+fifty-six pound bow for every inch of draw past this, the weight rises
+between two and three pounds. As the arrow nears full draw, the weight
+increases to such a degree that the last few inches will register five
+or six pounds to the inch, depending on many variable factors in the
+bow.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The gradient thus formed dictates the character of a bow to a great
+extent. One that pulls softly at first and in the last part of the draw
+is very stiff, will require more careful shooting to get the exact
+length of flight than one whose tension is evenly distributed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Reflexed bows are harder on strings than those that follow the string.
+A breaking cord may fracture your bow. I saw Wallace Bryant lose a
+beautiful specimen this way. One of Aldred's most perfect make, dark
+Spanish yew and more than fifty years old, flew to splinters just
+because a treacherous string parted in the center. Sturdy hunting bows
+are not so liable to this catastrophe, but be sure you are not caught
+out in a game country with a broken string and no second. You will see
+endless opportunities to shoot. Wax is to an archer what tar is to a
+sailor; use it often, and always have two strings to your bow.
+</p>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<h2><a name="vi">VI</a></h2>
+
+<h3>HOW TO MAKE AN ARROW</h3>
+
+<p>
+Fletching is a very old art and, necessarily, must have many empirical
+methods and principles involved. There are innumerable types of arrows,
+and an equal number of ways of making them. For an excellent
+description of a good way to make target arrows, the reader is referred
+to that chapter by Jackson in the book <i>American Archery</i>.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Having learned several aboriginal methods of fletching and studied all
+the available literature on the subject, we have adopted the following
+maneuvers to turn out standard hunting arrows: The first requisite is
+the shaft. Having tested birch, maple, hickory, oak, ash, poplar,
+alder, red cedar, mahogany, palma brava, Philippine nara, Douglas fir,
+red pine, white pine, spruce, Port Orford cedar, yew, willow, hazel,
+eucalyptus, redwood, elderberry, and bamboo, we have adopted birch as
+the most rigid, toughest and suitable in weight for hunting arrows.
+Douglas fir and Norway pine are best for target shafts; bamboo for
+flight arrows.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The commercial dowel, frequently called a maple dowel, is made of white
+birch and is exactly suited to our purpose. It may be obtained in
+quantities from dealers in hardwoods, or from sash and door mills. If
+possible, you should select these dowels yourself, to see that they are
+straight, free from cross-grain, and of a rigid quality. For hunting
+bows drawing over sixty pounds, the dowels should be three-eighths of
+an inch in diameter; for lighter bows five-sixteenths dowels should be
+used. They come in three-foot lengths and bundles of two hundred and
+fifty. It is a good plan to buy a bundle at a time and keep them in the
+attic to dry and season.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Where dowels are not obtainable, you can have a hickory or birch plank
+sawed up or split into sticks half an inch in diameter, and plane these
+to the required size, or turn them on a lathe, or run them through a
+dowel-cutting machine.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Take a dozen dowels from your stock and cut them to a length of
+twenty-eight and one-quarter inches, or an inch less or more according
+to the length of your arms. In doing this you should try to remove the
+worst end, keeping that portion with the straightest grain for the head
+of your shaft.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Having cut them to length, take a hand plane and shave the last six
+inches of the rear end or shaftment so that the diameter is reduced to
+a trifle more than five-sixteenths of an inch at the extremity.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now comes the process of straightening your shafts. By squinting down
+the length of the dowel you can observe the crooked portions. If these
+are very bad, they should be heated gently over a gas flame and then
+bent into proper line over the base of the thumb or palm. A pair of
+gloves will protect the hand from burning. If the deviation be slight,
+then mere manual pressure is often sufficient. During this process the
+future arrow should be tested for strength. If it cannot stand
+considerable bending it deserves to break. If it is limber, discard it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Nocking the shaft comes next. Hunting arrows require no horn, bone,
+aluminum, or fiber nock. Simply place the smaller end of the shaft in a
+vise and cut the end across the grain with three hack saws bound
+together, your cut being about an eighth of an inch wide by
+three-eighths deep; finish it carefully with a file. Thus nock them all
+and sandpaper them smooth throughout, rounding the nocked end
+gracefully. To facilitate this process I place one end in a
+motor-driven chuck and hold the rapidly revolving shaft in a piece of
+sandpaper in my hand. When finished the diameter should be a trifle
+under three-eighths of an inch at the center and about five-sixteenths
+at the nock.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Mark them now, where the feathers and binding should go. At a point one
+inch from the base of the nock make a circular line, this is for the
+rear binding; five inches above this make another, this is for the
+feather; one inch above this make another, this is for the front
+binding; and an inch above this make another, this is for the painted
+ribbon.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Feathers come next, but really they should have come long ago. The best
+are turkey feathers, so we won't talk about any others. The time to get
+them is at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Then you should get on good
+terms with your butcher and have him save you a boxful of turkey wings.
+These you chop with a hatchet on a block, saving only the six or seven
+long pinions. Put them away with moth balls until you need them. Of
+course, if you cannot get turkey feathers when you want them, goose,
+chicken, duck, or plumes from a feather duster may be employed. Your
+milliner can tell you where to purchase goose feathers, but these are
+expensive.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Cutting arrow feathers is a pleasant occupation around the fire in the
+winter evenings, and the real archer has the happiness of making his
+tackle while his mind dwells upon the coming spring shooting. As he
+makes his shaft he wonders what fate will befall it. Will it speed away
+in a futile shot, or last the grilling of a hundred practice flights,
+or will it be that fortunate arrow which flies swift and true and
+brings down the bounding deer? How often have I picked up a shaft and
+marked it, saying, "With this I'll kill a bear." And with some I've
+done it, too!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So your feathers should be cut in quantity. This is the way you cut
+them: Select a good clean one, steady it between your palms while with
+your fingers you separate the bristles at the tip. Pull them apart,
+thus splitting the rib down the center. If by chance it should not
+split evenly, take your sharpened penknife and cut it straight.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Have ready a little spring clip, such as is used to hold your cravat or
+magazine in a book store. One end of this is bent about a safety-pin so
+that it can be fastened to your trousers at the knee. Now you have a
+sort of knee vise to hold your feather while trimming it. Place the
+butt of the rib in the jaws of the clip and shave it down to the
+thickness of a thirty-second of an inch. Make this even and level so
+that the feather stands perpendicular to it. With a pair of long
+scissors cut off the lateral excess of rib on the concave side of the
+feather. This permits it to straighten out.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At the same stage cut the feather roughly to shape; that is, five
+inches long, half an inch at the anterior end, an inch wide
+posteriorly, and having an inch of stem projecting at each extremity.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For this work you must keep your pocket-knife very sharp. With practice
+you should cut a feather in two or three minutes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Donnan Smith, a worthy archer and a good fletcher, has devised a spring
+clamp which holds the feather while being cut. It is composed of a
+strong binder clip to which are soldered two thin metal jaws the size
+and shape of a properly cut feather. Having stripped his feather, he
+clamps it rib uppermost between the jaws and trims the rib with a
+knife, or on a fast-revolving emery stone, or sandpaper disc. This
+accomplished, he turns the feather around in the clamp and cuts the
+bristles to the exact shape of the metal jaws with a pair of scissors.
+It is an admirable method.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Some fletchers cut their feathers on a board by eye with only a knife.
+James Duff, the well-known American maker of tackle, learned this in
+the shop of Peter Muir, the famous Scotch fletcher.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+If you wish to dye your feathers it may be done by obtaining the
+aniline dye used on wool. Adding about 10 per cent of vinegar to the
+aqueous solution of the stain, heat it to such a temperature that you
+can just stand your finger in it. Soak your feathers in this hot
+solution, stir them for several minutes, then lay them out on a piece
+of newspaper to dry in the sun. Red, orange, and yellow are used for
+this purpose; the former helps one to find a lost arrow, but all colors
+tend to run if wet, and stain the clothing.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Having prepared a sufficient quantity of feathers, you are ready to
+fledge your shaft. Select three of a similar color, strength, and from
+the same wing of the bird. With a stick, run a little liquid glue along
+the rib of each and lay it aside. Along the axis of your arrow run
+three parallel lines of glue down the shaftment. The first of these is
+for the cock feather and should be on a line perpendicular to the nock.
+The other two are equidistant from this. A novice should mark these
+lines with a pencil at first.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now comes a difficult task, that of putting on the feathers. Many ways
+and means have been devised, and in target arrows nothing is better
+than just sticking them on by hand. Some have used clamps, some use
+pins, some lash the feathers on at the extremities with thread, and
+then glue beneath them. We take the oldest of all methods, which is
+shown in the specimens of old Saxon arrows rescued from the Nylander
+boat in Holland,
+[Footnote: See <i>Archer's Register</i> of 1912.]
+also depicted in many old English paintings--that of binding the
+feathers with a piece of thread running spirally up the shaft between
+the bristles.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Starting at a point six inches from the nock, set your thick end of the
+rib in position on the lines of glue. Hold the shaft under your left
+arm while with the left thumb, forefinger, and middle finger steady the
+feathers as they are respectively put in place. With one end of a piece
+of cotton basting thread in your teeth and the spool in your right
+hand, start binding the ribs down to the arrow shaft. After a few turns
+proceed up the shaftment, adjusting the feathers in position as you
+rotate the arrow. Let your basting thread slip between the bristles of
+the feather about half an inch apart. When you come to the rear end,
+finish up with several overlapping turns and a half-hitch. Line up your
+feathers so that they run straight down the shaftment and are
+equidistant. Of one thing be very sure--see that your feather runs a
+trifle toward the concave side, looking from the rear, and that the
+rear end deviates quite perceptibly toward this direction. This insures
+proper steering qualities to your arrow. Set it aside and let it dry.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When all are dry, remove the basting thread and trim the ribs to the
+pencil marks, leaving them about three-quarters of an inch long. Bevel
+their ends to a slender taper.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The next process is that of binding the feathers in position. The
+material which we use for this purpose is known as ribonzine, a thin
+silk ribbon used to bind candy boxes. In the absence of this, floss
+silk may be employed. Cut it into pieces about a foot long. Put a
+little liquid glue on the space reserved for binding and, while
+revolving the shaft under your arm, apply the ribbon in lapping spirals
+over the feather ribs. Cover them completely and have the binding
+smooth and well sized in glue. The ribbon near the nock serves to
+protect the wood at this point from splitting. When dry, clean your
+shaft from ragged excess of glue with knife and sandpaper, and finish
+up by running a little diluted glue with a small brush along the side
+of the feather ribs to make them doubly secure.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now comes the painting.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We paint arrows not so much for gayness, as to preserve them against
+moisture, to aid in finding them when lost, and to distinguish one
+man's shaft from another's.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Chinese vermilion and bright orange are colors which are most
+discernible in the grass and undergrowth. With a narrow brush, paint
+between your feathers, running up slightly on to the rib, covering the
+glue. If your silk ribbon binding is a bright color--mine is green--you
+can leave it untouched. We often paint the nock a distinguishing color
+to indicate the type of head at the other end, so that in drawing the
+shaft from the quiver we can know beforehand what sort it will be. The
+livery should be painted in several different rings. My own colors are
+red, green, and white.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One or two coats are applied according to the fancy of the archer. The
+line between the various pigments should be striped with a thin black
+ring.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Unless you use a lathe to hold your arrows in the painting process, you
+can employ two wooden blocks or rests, one having a shallow countersunk
+hole on its lateral face to hold the nock while rotating, the other
+having a groove on its upper surface. Clamp these on a bench, or on the
+opposite arms of your easy chair before the fire, and you can turn your
+shafts slowly by hand while you steady your brush and apply the paint
+in even rings.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At this stage I have added a device which seems to be helpful in
+nocking arrows in the dark, or while keeping one's eye on the game.
+Having put a drop of glue on the ribbon immediately above the nock and
+behind the cock feather, I affix a little white glass bead. One can
+feel this with his thumb as he nocks his arrow, when in conjunction
+with knots on his string, he can perform this maneuver entirely by
+touch.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The paint having dried, varnish or shellac your arrow its entire
+length, avoiding, of course, any contact with the feathers. In due time
+sandpaper the shaft and repeat the varnishing. Rub this down with
+steelwool and give it a finishing touch with floor wax.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Here we are ready for the arrow-heads.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We use three types of points. The first is a blunt head made by binding
+the end of the shaft with thin tinned iron wire for half an inch and
+running on solder, then drilling a hole in the end of the shaft and
+inserting an inch round-headed screw. In place of soldered wire, one
+can use an empty 38-caliber cartridge, either cutting off the base or
+drilling out the priming aperture to admit the screw. This type of
+arrow we use for rough practice, shooting tin cans, trees, boxes, and
+other impedimenta. It makes a good shaft for birds, rabbits, and small
+game.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A second type of head we use is made of soft steel about a sixteenth of
+an inch thick. We cut it with a hack saw into a blunt, barbed,
+lanceolate shape having a blade about an inch long and half an inch
+wide, also a tang about the same length and three-eighths of an inch
+wide.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This we set into a slot sawed in the arrow in the same plane as the
+nock, and bind the shaft with tinned wire, number 30, soldered
+together. The end of the shaft has a gradual bevel where it meets the
+lateral face of the head.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This is a sturdy little point and will stand much abuse. We use it for
+shooting birds, squirrels, and small vermin.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But the point that we prefer to shoot is the old English broad-head.
+Starting from small dimensions, we have gradually increased its size,
+weight and strength and cutting qualities till now we shoot a head
+whose blade is three inches long, an inch and a quarter wide, a trifle
+less than a thirty-second thick. It has a haft or tubular shank an inch
+long. Its weight is half an ounce. The blades are made of spring steel.
+After annealing the steel we score it diagonally with a hack saw, when
+it may be broken in triangular pieces in a vise. With a cold chisel, an
+angular cut is made in the base to form the barbs. With a file and
+carborundum stone, they are edged and shaped into blades as sharp as
+knives. Soft, cold drawn steel will serve quite as well as spring steel
+for these blades, but it does not hold its edge. It may be purchased at
+hardware supply depots in the form of strips an inch and a half wide,
+by one-thirty-second thick, and is much easier to work than the
+tempered variety.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then taking three-eighths number .22 gauge steel or brass tubing, we
+smash it to a short bevel on the anvil, file off the corners and cut it
+to a length of an inch and three-quarters. This makes the haft or
+socket. Fixing a blade, barbs uppermost in the vise, this tubing is
+driven lightly into position, the filed edges of the beveled end
+permitting the blade to be held between the sides of the tubing. A
+small hole is drilled through the tubing and blade, and a soft iron
+wire rivet is inserted. The blade is held over a gas flame while the
+joint between it and the tubing is filled with soft soldering compound
+and ribbon solder.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The heated head is plunged into water and later finished with file and
+emery cloth. The whole process of making a steel broad-head requires
+about twenty minutes. Every archer should manufacture his own. Then he
+will treat them with more respect. Very few artisans can make them, and
+if they can, their price is exorbitant.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Be sure that your heads are straight and true. To set them on your
+shaft, cut the wood to fit, then heat a bit of ferrule cement and set
+them on in the same plane as the nock. In the absence of ferrule
+cement, which can be had at all sporting goods stores, one can use
+chewing gum, or better yet, a mixture of caoutchouc pitch and scale
+shellac heated together in equal parts. Heat your fixative as you would
+sealing wax, over a candle, also heat the arrow and the metal head. Put
+on with these adhesives, it seldom pulls off. In the wilds we often fix
+the head with pine resin. Glue can be used, but it is not so good.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Having brought your arrows to this stage, the next act is to trim the
+feathers. First run them gently through the hand and smooth out their
+veins; then with long-bladed scissors cut them so that the anterior end
+is three-eighths of an inch high, while the posterior extremity is one
+inch. I also cut the rear tip of the feather diagonally across,
+removing about half an inch to prevent it getting in the way of the
+fingers when on the string.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Mr. Arthur Young cuts his feathers in a long parabola with a die made
+of a knife blade bent into shape. These things are largely a matter of
+taste.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Look your arrows over; see that they are straight and that the feathers
+are in good shape, then shoot them to observe their flight. Number them
+above the ribbon so that you can keep record of their performances. The
+weight of such an arrow is one and one-half ounces.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The small blunt, barb-headed arrows we often paint red their entire
+length. Because they are meant for use in the brush, they are more
+readily lost; the bright color saves many a shaft.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To make a hunting arrow requires about an hour, and one should be
+willing to look for one almost this time when it is lost. Finding
+arrows is an acquired art. Don't forget the advice of Bassanio: "In my
+school days when I had lost one shaft, I shot his fellow of the
+self-same flight, the self-same way, with more advised watch to find
+the other forth; and by adventuring both, I oft found both."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+If, indeed, the shaft cannot be found, then give it up with good grace,
+remembering that after all it is pleasant work to make one. Dedicate it
+to the cause of archery with the hope that in future days some one may
+pick it up and, pricking his finger on the barb, become inoculated with
+the romance of archery.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When an arrow lodges in a root or tree, we work the head back and forth
+very carefully to withdraw it. A little pair of pliers comes in very
+handy here. If it is buried deeply we cut the wood away from it with a
+hunting knife. Blunt arrows, called bird bolts by Shakespeare, are best
+to shoot up in the branches of trees at winged and climbing game.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In our quivers we usually carry several light shafts we call eagle
+arrows, because they are designed principally for shooting at this
+bird.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Once while hunting deer, and observing a doe and fawn drinking at a
+pool, we saw a magnificent golden eagle swoop down, catch the startled
+fawn and lift it from the ground. Mr. Compton and I, having such arrows
+in our quivers, let fly at the struggling bird of prey. We came so
+close that the eagle loosened the grip of his talons and the fawn
+dropped to earth and sped off with its mother, safe for the time being.
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<a href="images/104.jpg"><img src="images/104th.jpg" alt="SEVERAL STEPS IN ARROW MAKING"></a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Often we have shot at hawks and eagles high up in the air, where to
+reach them we needed a very light arrow, and they have had many close
+calls. For these we use a five-sixteenths dowel, feather it with short,
+low cut parabolic feathers and put a small barbed head on it about an
+inch in length. Such an arrow we paint dark green, blue, or black, so
+that the bird cannot discern its flight.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is great sport to shoot at some lazy old buzzard as he comes within
+range. He can see the ordinary arrow, and if you shoot close, he
+dodges, swoops downward, flops sidewise, twists his head round and
+round, and speeds up to leave the country. He presents the comic
+picture of a complacent old gentleman suddenly disturbed in his
+monotonous existence and frightened into a most unbecoming loss of
+dignity.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Eagle arrows can be used for lofty flights, to span great canyons, to
+rout the chattering bluejay from the topmost limb of a pine, and sooner
+or later we shall pierce an eagle on the wing.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We make another kind of shaft that we call a "floo-floo." In Thompson's
+<i>Witchery of Archery</i> he describes an arrow that his Indian companion
+used, which gave forth such a fluttering whistle when in flight that
+they called it by this euphonious name. This is made by constructing
+the usual blunt screw-headed shaft and fledging it with wide uncut
+feathers. It is useful in shooting small game in the brush, because its
+flight is impeded and, missing the game, it soon loses momentum and
+stops. It does not bound off into the next county, but can be found
+near by. As a rule, these are steady, straight fliers for a short
+distance.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In finishing the nock of an arrow, it should be filed so that it fits
+the string rather snugly, thus when in place it is not easily disturbed
+by the ordinary accidents of travel. Still this tightness should be at
+the entrance of the nock, while the bottom of the nock is made a trifle
+more roomy with a round file. I file all my nocks to fit a certain
+two-inch wire nail whose diameter is just that of my bowstring.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After arrows have been shot for a time and their feathers have settled,
+they should again be trimmed carefully to their final proportions. The
+heads, if found too broad for perfect flight, should be ground a trifle
+narrower.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When hunting, one does well to carry in his pocket a small flat file
+with which to sharpen his broad-heads before shooting them. They should
+have a serrated, meat-cutting edge. Even carrying arrows in a quiver
+tends to dull them, because they chafe each other while in motion. From
+time to time you should rub the shafts and heads with the mixture of
+cedar and linseed oil, thus keeping them clean and protected from
+dampness.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On a hunting trip an archer should carry with him in his repair kit,
+extra feathers, heads, cement, a tube of glue, ribonzine, linen thread,
+wax, paraffin, sandpaper, emery cloth, pincers, file and small
+scissors. With these he can salvage many an arrow that otherwise would
+be too sick to shoot.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Extra arrows are carried in a light wooden box which has little
+superimposed racks on which they rest and are kept from crushing each
+other.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As a rule, nothing does an arrow so much good as to shoot it, and
+nothing so much harm as to have it lie inactive and crowded in the
+quiver.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The flight of an arrow is symbolic of life itself. It springs from the
+bow with high aim, flies toward the blue heaven above, and seems to
+have immortal power. The song of its life is sweet to the ear. The rush
+of its upward arc is a promise of perpetual progress. With perfect
+grace it sweeps onward, though less aspiring. Then fluttering
+imperceptibly, it points downward and with ever-increasing speed,
+approaches the earth, where, with a deep sigh, it sinks in the soil,
+quivers with spent energy, and capitulates to the inevitable.
+</p>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<h2><a name="vii">VII</a></h2>
+
+<h3>ARCHERY EQUIPMENT</h3>
+
+<p>
+Besides a bow and arrow, the archer needs to have a quiver, a bow case,
+a waterproof quiver case, an arm guard or bracer, and a shooting glove
+or leather finger tips. Our quivers are made of untanned deer hide,
+usually from deer shot with the bow. The hide, having been properly
+cleaned, stretched, and dried, is cut down the center, each half making
+a quiver. Marking a quadrilateral outline twenty-four inches on two
+sides, twelve at the larger end, and nine at the smaller, in such a way
+that the hair points from the larger to the smaller end; cut this piece
+and soak it in water until soft, and wash it clean with soap. At the
+same time cut a circular piece off the tough neck skin, three inches in
+diameter.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With a furrier's needle having three sharp edges, and heavy waxed
+thread, or better yet, with catgut, sew up the longer sides of the skin
+with a simple overcast stitch. Let the hair side be in while sewing. In
+the smaller end sew the circular bottom. Invert the quiver on a stick;
+turn back a cuff of hide one inch deep at the top. To do this nicely,
+the hair should be clipped away at this point. This cuff stiffens the
+mouth of the quiver and keeps it always open.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now put your quiver over a wooden form to dry.
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<a href="images/109.jpg"><img src="images/109th.jpg" alt="ARROW HEADS OF VARIOUS SORTS USED IN HUNTING"></a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I have one like a shoemaker's last, made of two pieces of wood
+separated by a thin slat which can be removed, permitting easy
+withdrawal of the quiver after drying. When dry, your quiver will be
+about twenty-two inches deep, four inches across the top, and slightly
+conical.
+
+Cut a strip of deer hide eight inches long by one and a half wide,
+shave it, double the hair side in, and attach it to the seamy side of
+the quiver by perforating the leather and inserting a lacing of
+buckskin thongs. Leave the loop of this strap projecting two inches
+above the top of the quiver. In the bottom of your quiver drop a round
+piece of felt or carpet to prevent the arrow points coming through the
+hide.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+If you are not so fortunate as to have deer hide, you may use any stiff
+leather, or even canvas. This latter can be made stiff by painting or
+varnishing it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Such a receptacle will hold a dozen broad-heads very comfortably and
+several more under pressure. It should swing from a belt at the right
+hip in such a way that in walking it does not touch the leg, while in
+shooting it is accessible to the right hand or may then be shifted
+slightly to the front for convenience.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In running we usually grasp the quiver in the right hand, not only to
+prevent it interfering with locomotion, but to keep the arrows from
+rattling and falling out. When on the trail of an animal we habitually
+stuff a twig of leaves, a bunch of ferns or a bit of grass in the mouth
+of the quiver to damp the soft rustling of the arrows. Sometimes, in
+going through brush or when running, we carry the quiver on a belt
+slung over the left shoulder. Here they are out of the way and give the
+legs full action.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To keep the arrows dry, and to cover them while traveling, we make a
+sheath for the quiver of waterproof muslin. This is long enough to
+cover the arrows and has a wire ring a bit larger than the top of the
+quiver sewn in the cloth some three inches from the upper end. This
+keeps the feathers from being crushed. The mouth of this cover is
+closed with a drawstring. On the side adjacent to the strap of the
+quiver, an aperture is cut to permit this being brought through and
+fastened to the belt.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The bow itself has a long narrow case made of the same cloth, or
+canvas, or green baize with a drawstring at the top and a leather tip
+at the bottom. Where several bows are packed together, each has a
+woolen bow case and all are carried in a canvas bag, composition
+carrying cylinder, or in a wooden bow box. In hunting we prefer the
+canvas bag, but you must carry it yourself, any one else will break
+your bows.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The bracer, or arm guard, is a cuff of leather worn on the left forearm
+to prevent the stroke of the bowstring doing damage. Some archers can
+shoot without this protection, but others, because of their style of
+shooting or their anatomical formation, need it. It can be made like a
+butcher's cuff, some six or eight inches long, partially surrounding
+the forearm and fastened by three little straps or by lacing in the
+back. Another form is simply a strip of thin sole leather from two to
+three inches wide by eight long, having little straps and buckles
+attached to hold it in position on the flexor surface of the wrist and
+forearm.
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<a href="images/112.jpg"><img src="images/112th.jpg" alt="NECESSARY ARCHERY EQUIPMENT"></a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The bracer not only keeps the arm from injury, but makes for a clean
+release of the arrow. Anything such as a coat sleeve touching the
+bowstring when in action, diverts the arrow in its flight. On the
+sleeve of your shooting jersey you can sew a piece of leather for an
+arm guard.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While one may pick up a bow and shoot a few shots without a glove or
+finger protection, he soon will be compelled to cease because of
+soreness. Doubtless the ancient yeoman, a horny-handed son of toil,
+needed no glove. But we know that even in those days a tab of leather
+was held in the hand to prevent the string from hurting. The glove
+probably is of more modern use and quite in favor among target archers.
+We have found it rather hot in hunting, so have resorted to leather
+finger tips. These are best made of pigskin or cordovan leather, which
+is horse hide. This should be about a sixteenth of an inch thick and
+cut to such a form that the tips enclose the finger on the palmar
+surface up to the second joint and leave an oval opening over the
+knuckle and upper part of the finger nail. The best way to make them is
+to mould a piece of paper about each of the first three fingers on the
+right hand, gathering the paper on the back and crimping it with the
+thumb nail to show where to cut the pattern. Lay the paper out flat and
+cut it approximately according to the illustrated form.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Transferring these outlines to the leather, cut three pieces
+accordingly, soak them in water and sew them. This stitching is best
+done by previously punching holes along the edges with a fine awl and
+sewing an overcast stitch of waxed linen thread which, having reached
+the end, returns backward on its course through the same holes. This
+makes a criss-cross effect which is strong and pleasing to the eye.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The ends of the finger cots should be sewed closed, protecting the
+fingers from injury and keeping out dirt. While the leather is still
+soft and damp, place the tips on the fingers and press them home. At
+the same time flex them strongly at the joints and try to keep them
+bent there. Such angulation helps not only in holding the bowstring,
+but keeps the tip from coming off under pressure. When dry, these
+leather stalls should be numbered according to the finger to which they
+belong, coated lightly with thin glue on the inside and waxed on the
+outer surface. Then they are ready for use.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+An archer should have two sets of tips so that, should misfortune
+befall him and he loses one, he is not altogether undone. When not in
+use keep them in your pocket or strung on the strap of your bracer. In
+by-gone days they were sewed to straps which fastened to a wrist belt,
+thus were more secure from loss, but more cumbersome.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From time to time oil your tips and always keep them from being
+roughened or scratched. With a small amount of glue in the tip one has
+only to moisten his fingers in his mouth and the leather stall will
+stick on firmly. We have also used lead plaster of the pharmacopoeia
+for the same adhesive purpose.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the absence of pockets in ancient days, the archer carried his extra
+equipment in a wallet slung at his waist. Even now it seems a handy
+thing to have a deerskin wallet six by eight inches, by an inch or more
+deep. I frequently carry my tips, extra string, wax, file wrapped in a
+cloth, and a bit of lunch, in such a receptacle.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With his bow, his quiver, a wallet, our modern archer is ready and
+could step into Sherwood Forest feeling quite at home.
+</p>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<h2><a name="viii">VIII</a></h2>
+
+<h3>HOW TO SHOOT</h3>
+
+<p>
+First, brace your bow. To do this properly, grasp it at the handle with
+your right hand, the upper horn upward and the back toward you. Place
+the lower horn at the instep of your right foot, and the base of your
+left palm against the back of the bow, near the top below the loop of
+the string. Holding your left arm stiff and toward your left side, your
+right elbow fixed on your hip, pull up on the handle by twisting your
+body so that the bow is sprung away from you. The string is now
+relaxed, and the fingers of the left hand push it upward till it slips
+in the nock.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Don't try to force the string, and don't get your fingers caught
+beneath it. Do most of the work with the right hand pulling against the
+rigid left arm.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The proper distance between the bow and the string at the handle is six
+inches. This is ordinarily measured by setting the fist on the handle
+and the thumb sticking upright, where it should touch the string. This
+is the ancient fistmele, an archer's measure, also used in measuring
+lumber.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Hunting bows should be strung a little less than this because of the
+prolonged strain on them. Target bows shoot cleaner when higher strung.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Change your bow to your left hand and drop the arm so that the upper
+end of the bow swings across the body in a horizontal position. Draw an
+arrow from the quiver with the right hand and carry it across the bow
+till it rests on the left side at the top of the handle. Place the left
+forefinger over the shaft and keep it from slipping while you shift
+your right hand to the arrow-nock, thumb uppermost. Push the arrow
+forward, at the same time rotating it until the cock feather, or that
+perpendicular to the nock, is away from the bow. As the feathers pass
+over the string and the thumb still rests on the nock, slip the fingers
+beneath the string and fit it in the arrow-nock.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now turn the bow upright and remove your left forefinger from its
+position across the shaft. The arrow should rest on the knuckles
+without lateral support. Now place your fingers in position for
+shooting. The release used by the old English is the best. This
+consists in placing three fingers on the string, one above the arrow,
+two below. The string rests midway between the last joint and the tip
+of the finger. The thumb should not touch the arrow, but lie curled up
+in the palm.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The release used by children consists in pinching the arrow between the
+thumb and forefinger, and is known as the primary loose. This type is
+not strong enough to draw an arrow half way on a hunting bow.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Stand sidewise to your mark, with the feet eight or ten inches apart,
+at right angles to the line of shot. Straighten your body, stiffen the
+back, expand the chest, turn the head fully facing the mark, look at it
+squarely, and draw your bow across the body, extending the left arm as
+you draw the right hand toward the chin.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Draw the arrow steadily, in the exact plane of your mark, so that when
+the full draw is obtained and the arrowhead touches the left hand, the
+right forefinger touches a spot on the jaw perpendicularly below the
+right eye and the right elbow is in a continuous line with the arrow.
+This point on the jaw below the eye is fixed and never varies; no
+matter how close or how far the shot, the butt of the arrow is always
+drawn to the jaw, not to the eye, nor to the ear. Thus the eye glances
+along the entire length of the shaft and keeps it in perfect line. The
+bow hand may be lowered or raised to obtain the proper elevation and
+length of flight. The left arm is held rigidly but not absolutely
+extended and locked at the elbow. A slight degree of flexion here makes
+for a good clearance of the string and adds resiliency to the shot.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The arrow is released by drawing the right hand further backward at the
+same time the fingers slip off the string. This must be done so firmly,
+yet deftly, that no loss of power results, and the releasing hand does
+not draw the arrow out of line. Two great faults occur at this point:
+one is to permit the arrow to creep forward just before the release,
+and the other is to draw the hand away from the face in the act of
+releasing. Keep your fingers flexed and your hand by your jaw. All the
+fingers of the right hand must bear their proper share of work. The
+great tendency is to permit the forefinger to shirk and to put too much
+work on the ring finger.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+If the arrow has a tendency to fall away from the bow, tip the upper
+limb ten degrees to the right and pull more on the right forefinger,
+also start the draw with the fingers more acutely flexed, so that as
+the arrow is pinched between the first and second fingers and as they
+tend to straighten out under the pressure of the string, the arrow is
+pressed against the bow, not away from it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In grasping the bow with the left hand, it should rest comfortably in
+the palm and loosely at the beginning of the draw. The knuckle at the
+base of the thumb should be opposite the center of the bow, the hand
+set straight on the wrist. As you draw, be sure that the arrow comes up
+in a straight line with your mark, otherwise the bow will be twisted in
+the grasp and deflect the shot. Then fully drawn, set the grasp of the
+left hand without disturbing the position of the bow, make the left arm
+as rigid as an oak limb; fix the muscles of the chest; make yourself
+inflexible from head to toe. Keep your right elbow up and rivet your
+gaze upon your mark; release in a direct line backward. Everything must
+be under the greatest tension, any weakening spoils your flight.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The method of aiming in game shooting consists in fixing binocular
+vision on the object to be hit, drawing the nock of the arrow beneath
+the right eye and observing that the head of the arrow is in a direct
+line with the mark by the indirect vision of the right eye. Both eyes
+are open, both see the mark, but only the right observes the arrowhead,
+the left ignores it. Your vision must be so concentrated upon one point
+that all else fades from view. Just two things exist--your mark and
+your arrowhead.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At a range of sixty or eighty yards, the head of the arrow seems to
+touch the mark while aiming. This is called point blank range. At
+shorter lengths the archer must estimate the distance below the mark on
+which his arrow seems to rest in order to rise in a parabolic curve and
+strike the spot. At greater ranges he must estimate a distance above
+the mark on which he holds his arrow in order to drop it on the object
+of his shot.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+If his shaft flies to the left, it is because he has not drawn the nock
+beneath his right eye, or he has thrown his head out of line, or the
+string has hit his shirt sleeve or something has deflected the arrow.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+If it falls to the right, it is because he has made a forward, creeping
+release, or weakened in his bow arm, or in drawing to the center of the
+jaw instead of the angle beneath the eye.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+If the arrow rattles on the bow as it is released, or slaps it hard in
+passing, it is because it is not drawn up in true line, or because it
+fits too tightly on the string, or because the release is creeping and
+weak. Always draw fully up to the barb.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+If his arrows drop low and all else is right, it is because he has not
+kept his tension, or has lowered his bow arm.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After the arrow is released, the archer should hold his posture a
+second, bow arm rigidly extended, drawing hand to his jaw, right elbow
+horizontal. This insures that he maintains the proper position during
+the shot. There should be no jerking, swinging, or casting motions; all
+must be done evenly and deliberately.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The shaft should fly from the bowstring like a bird, without quaver or
+flutter. All depends upon a sharp resilient release.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Having observed all the prerequisites of good shooting, nothing so
+insures a keen, true arrow flight as an effort of supreme tension
+during the release. The chest is held rigid in a position of moderate
+inspiration, the back muscles are set and every tendon is drawn into
+elastic strain; in fact, to be successful, the whole act should be
+characterized by the utmost vigor.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To get the best instructions for shooting the bow, one should read Sir
+Roger Ascham in <i>Toxophilus</i>, and Horace Ford on <i>Archery</i>.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Game shooting differs from target shooting in that with the latter a
+point of aim is used, and the archer fixes his eyes upon this point
+which is perpendicular above or below the bull's-eye. The arrowhead is
+held on the point of aim, and when loosed, flies not along the line of
+vision, but describes a curve upward, descends and strikes not the
+point of aim, but the bull's-eye.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The field archer should learn to estimate distances correctly by eye.
+He should practice pacing measured lengths, so that he can tell how
+many yards any object may be from him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In hunting he should make a mental note of this before he shoots. In
+fact we nearly always call the number of yards before we loose the
+arrow.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Where a strong cross-wind exists, a certain amount of windage is
+allowed. But up to sixty yards the lateral deflexion from wind is
+negligible; past this it may amount to three or four feet.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In clout shooting and target practice, one must take wind into
+consideration. In hunting we only consider it when approaching game, as
+a carrier of scent, because our hunting ranges are well under a hundred
+yards and our heavy hunting shafts tack into the wind with little
+lateral drift.
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<a href="images/121a.jpg"><img src="images/121ath.jpg" alt="AN ARCHER'S MEASURE, A FISTMELE"></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<a href="images/121b.jpg"><img src="images/121bth.jpg" alt="THE ENGLISH METHOD OF DRAWING THE ARROW"></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<a href="images/121c.jpg"><img src="images/121cth.jpg" alt="NOCKING THE SHAFT ON THE STRING"></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<a href="images/121d.jpg"><img src="images/121dth.jpg" alt="THE LONG BOW FULL DRAWN"></a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+No matter how much a man may shoot, he is forever struggling with his
+technique. I remember getting a letter from an old archer who had shot
+the bow for more than fifty years. He was past seventy and had to
+resort to a thirty-five pound weapon. He complained that his release
+was faulty, but he felt that with a little more practice he could
+perfect his loose and make a perfect shot. Since writing he has entered
+the Happy Hunting Grounds, still a trifle off in form.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Even a sylvan archer needs to practice form at the targets. He should
+study the game from its scientific principles as formulated by Horace
+Ford, the greatest target shot ever known.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The point-of-aim system and target practice improve one's hunting.
+Hunting, on the other hand, spoils one's target work. The use of heavy
+bows so accustoms the muscles to gross reactions that they fail to
+adjust themselves to the finer requirements of light bows and to the
+precise technique of the target range.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The field archer gets his practice by going out in the open and
+shooting at marks of any sort, at all distances, from five to two
+hundred yards. A bush, a stray piece of paper, a flower, a shadow on
+the grass, all are objects for his shafts.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The open heath, shaded forest, hills and dales, all make good grounds.
+As he comes over a knoll a bush on the farther side represents a deer,
+he shoots instantly. He must learn to run, to stop short and shoot,
+fresh or weary he must be able to draw his bow and discharge one arrow
+after another. With the bow unstrung walking along the trail, often we
+have stopped at the word of command, strung the bow, drawn an arrow
+from the quiver, nocked it, and discharged it within the space of five
+seconds. Deliberation, however, is much more desirable.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Let several archers go into the fields together and roam over the land,
+aiming at various marks; it makes for robust and accurate game
+shooting.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shooting an exact line is much easier than getting the exact length.
+For this reason it is easier to split the willow wand at sixty or
+eighty yards than it seems.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Often we have tried this feat to amuse ourselves or our friends, and
+seldom more than six arrows are needed to strike such a lath or stick
+at this distance. Hitting objects tossed in the air is not so difficult
+either. A small tin can or box thrown fifteen or twenty feet upward at
+a distance of ten or fifteen yards can be hit nearly every time,
+especially if the archer waits until it just reaches the apex of its
+course and shoots when it is practically stationary.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shooting at swinging objects helps to train one in leading running or
+flying game.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Turtle shooting, that form in which the arrow is discharged directly
+upward and is supposed to drop on the mark, is difficult and attended
+with few hits, but it trains one in estimating wind drift.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+An archer should also learn the elevation or trajectory at which his
+arrows fly at various distances. Shooting in the woods over hanging
+limbs may interfere with a good shot. In this case the archer can kneel
+and thus lower his flight to avoid interception.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In kneeling it seems that the right knee should be on the ground, while
+the left foot is forward. This is a natural pose to assume during
+walking, and the left thigh should be held out of the way of the
+bow-string. When not in use, but braced, the bow should be carried in
+the left hand, the string upward, the tip pointing forward. It never
+should be swung about like a club nor shouldered like a gun.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shooting from horseback is not impossible, but it must be done off the
+left side of the horse, and a certain amount of practice is necessary
+for the horse as well as for the archer.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is surprising how accurately one can shoot at night. Even the
+dimmest outline will serve the bowman, and his shaft has an uncanny way
+of finding the mark.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When it comes to missing the mark, that is the subject for a sad story.
+It takes an inveterate optimist to stand the moral strain of persistent
+missing. In fact, it is this that spoils the archery career of many a
+tyro--he gives up in despair. It looks so easy, but really is so
+difficult to hit the mark. But do not be cast down, keep eternally at
+practice, and ultimately you will be rewarded. Nothing stands a man in
+such good stead in this matter as to have started shooting in his
+youth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And do not imagine that we are infallible in our shooting. Some of the
+most humiliating moments of our lives have come through poor shooting.
+Just when we wanted to do our best, before an expectant gathering, we
+have done our most stupid missing. But even this has its compensations
+and inures us to defeat.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is a striking fact that we shoot better when confronted by the game
+itself. Under actual hunting conditions you will hit closer to your
+point than on the target field.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Study every move for clean, accurate shooting, and analyze your
+failures so that you can correct your faults. Extreme care and utmost
+effort will be rewarded by greater accuracy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Other things being equal, it is the man who shoots with his heart in
+his bow that hits the mark.
+</p>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<h2><a name="ix">IX</a></h2>
+
+<h3>THE PRINCIPLES OF HUNTING</h3>
+
+<p>
+In the early dawn of life man took up weapons against the beasts about
+him. With club, ax, spear, knife, and sling he protected himself or
+sought his game. To strike at a distance, he devised the bow. With the
+implements of the chase he has won his way in the world.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Today there is no need to battle with the beasts of prey and little
+necessity to kill wild animals for food; but still the hunting instinct
+persists. The love of the chase still thrills us and all the misty past
+echoes with the hunter's call.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the joy of hunting is intimately woven the love of the great
+outdoors. The beauty of woods, valleys, mountains, and skies feeds the
+soul of the sportsman where the quest of game only whets his appetite.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After all, it is not the killing that brings satisfaction, it is the
+contest of skill and cunning. The true hunter counts his achievement in
+proportion to the effort involved and the fairness of the sport.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With the rapid development of firearms, hunting tends to lose its
+sporting quality. The killing of game is becoming too easy; there is
+little triumph and less glory than in the days of yore. Game
+preservation demands a limitation of armament. We should do well to
+abandon the more powerful and accurate implements of destruction, and
+revert to the bow.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Here we have a weapon of beauty and romance. He who shoots with a bow,
+puts his life's energy into it. The force behind the flying shaft must
+be placed there by the archer. At the moment of greatest strain he must
+draw every sinew to the utmost; his hand must be steady; his nerves
+under absolute control; his eye keen and clear. In the hunt he pits his
+well-trained skill against the instinctive cunning of his quarry. By
+the most adroit cleverness, he must approach within striking distance,
+and when he speeds his low whispering shaft and strikes his game, he
+has won by the strength of arm and nerve. It is a noble sport.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+However, not all temperaments are suited to archery. There must be
+something within the deeper memories of his inheritance to which the
+bow appeals. A mere passing fancy will not suffice to make him an
+archer. It is the unusual person who will overcome the early
+difficulties and persevere with the bow through love of it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The real archer when he goes afield enters a land of subtle delight.
+The dew glistens on the leaves, the thrush sings in the bush, the soft
+wind blows, and all nature welcomes him as she has the hunter since the
+world began. With his bow in his hand, his arrows softly rustling in
+the quiver, a horn at his back, and a hound at his heels, what more can
+a man want in life?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In America our hearts have heard the low whistle of the flying arrow
+and the sweet hum of the bowstring singing in the book, <i>The Witchery
+of Archery</i> by Maurice Thompson. To Will and Maurice Thompson we owe a
+debt of gratitude hard to pay. The tale of their sylvan exploits in the
+everglades of Florida has a charm that borders on the fay. We who shoot
+the bow today are children of their fantasy, offspring of their magic.
+As the parents of American archery, we offer them homage and honor.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Ernest Thompson Seton is another patron of archery to whom all who have
+read <i>Two Little Savages</i> must be eternally grateful. Not only has he
+given us a reviving touch of the outdoors, but he puts the bow and
+arrow in its true setting, a background of nature.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When Arthur Young, Will Compton, and I began hunting with the bow, we
+wrote Will Thompson to join us. Because he is such a commanding figure
+in the history of our craft, I think it proper to quote from one of his
+letters:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"MY DEAR DR. POPE:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The <i>Sunset Magazine</i> containing your charming account of Ishi and
+your hunting adventures, and the bunch of photographs of the transfixed
+deer, quail, and rabbits came duly, and are mine, now, tomorrow, and
+for life. You were very fortunate to have won your archery triumphs
+where you could photograph them. I would give much indeed if I could
+have photos of the scenes of my brother's and my successes in the
+somber and game-thronged wilds of the gloomy Okefinokee Swamp. I think
+I sent you long ago the two numbers of <i>Forest and Stream</i> in which the
+history of that most wonderful of all my outings appeared. If I did not
+do so I will loan you the only copy I have. Let me know.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I am glad, so glad, that you young athletic men are following the wild
+trails armed with the most romantic weapon man ever fashioned, and I
+would give almost any precious thing I hold to fare with you once to
+the game land of your choice, and to watch and wait by a slender trail
+while you and your young, strong comrades stole through the secret
+haunts of the wild things, and to listen to the faint footfalls of the
+coming deer, roused by your entrance into their secret lairs. To see
+the soft and devious approach of the wary thing; to see the lifted
+light head turned sharply back toward the evil that roused it from its
+bed of ferns; to feel the strong bow tightening in my hand as the thin,
+hard string comes back; to feel the leap of the loosened cord, the jar
+of the bow, and see the long streak of the going shaft, and hear the
+almost sickening 'chuck' of the stabbing arrow. No one can know how I
+have loved the woods, the streams, the trails of the wild, the ways of
+the things of slender limbs, of fine nose, of great eager ears, of mild
+wary eyes, and of vague and half-revealed forms and colors. I have been
+their friend and mortal enemy. I have so loved them that I longed to
+kill them. But I gave them far more than a fair chance.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"How many I have missed to one I have killed! How often the fierce
+arrow hissed its threat close by the wide ears! How often the puff of
+lifted feathers has marked the innocuous passage of my very best arrow!
+How often the roar of wings has replied to the 'chuck' of my
+steel-head shaft as it stabbed the tree branch under the grouse's feet!
+<i>Oh, le bon temps, que de siècle de fer</i>.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Let me know whether I sent you <i>Deep in Okefinokee Swamp</i>. I enclose
+you a little poem published long ago in <i>Forest and Stream</i> and picked
+up by the <i>Literary Digest</i> and other periodicals. You will, I think,
+feel the love of the bow, and the outdoors, as well as the great cry
+for the lost brother running through the long sob that pervades it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Send me anything you publish, for I know I should be pleased. Love to
+you and a handgrasp to your comrade archers.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"WILL THOMPSON."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After the Civil War, where both youths fought in the Confederate Army
+and Maurice was wounded, they returned to their Southern home, broken
+in health, reduced in circumstances, and deprived of firearms by
+Government restrictions. They turned to the bow and hunting as
+naturally as a boy turns to play. Out of their experiences we have a
+lyric of exquisite purity, <i>The Witchery of Archery</i>.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As a result of the interest stimulated by the recount of their
+exploits, the National Archery Association was established and held its
+first tournament at Chicago in the year 1879. It has ever since
+nurtured the sport and furthered competitive enthusiasm.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Maurice later became a noted author, Will an attorney-at-law, the dean
+of American archers and a poet of remarkably happy expression. Here I
+feel at liberty to insert one of Will Thompson's verses, sent me in
+personal communications:
+</p>
+
+<p class="ind">
+  AN ARROW SONG
+</p>
+
+<p class="ind">
+  A song from green Floridian vales I heard,<br>
+  Soft as the sea-moan when the waves are slow;<br>
+  Sweeter than melody of brook or bird,<br>
+  Keener than any winds that breathe or blow;<br>
+  A magic music out of memory stirred,<br>
+  A strain that charms my heart to overflow<br>
+  With such vast yearning that my eyes are blurred.<br>
+  Oh, song of dreams, that I no more shall know!<br>
+  Bewildering carol without spoken word!<br>
+  Faint as a stream's voice murmuring under snow,<br>
+  Sad as a love forevermore deferred,<br>
+  Song of the arrow from the Master's bow,<br>
+  Sung in Floridian vales long, long ago.
+</p>
+
+<p class="ind">
+  WILL H. THOMPSON.
+</p>
+
+<p class="ind">
+  <i>A memory of my brother Maurice</i>.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Thompsons devoted much of their bow shooting to birds. Not only did
+they hunt, but they studied the abundant avian life of the Florida
+coast.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+An archer must always, perforce, study animate nature and learn its
+ways before he can capture it. In our early training with Ishi, the
+Indian, he taught us to look before he taught us to shoot. "Little bit
+walk, too much look," was his motto. The roving eye and the light step
+are the signs of the forest voyageur.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The ideal way for an archer to travel is to carry on his shoulders a
+knapsack containing a light sleeping bag and enough food to last him a
+week. With me this means coffee, tea, sugar, canned milk, dried fruit,
+rice, cornmeal, flour and baking powder mixture, a little bacon,
+butter, and seasoning. This will weigh less than ten pounds. With other
+minor appurtenances in the ditty bag, including an arrow-repairing kit,
+one's burden is less than twenty pounds, an easy load.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+If you have a dog, make him carry his own dry meal in little
+saddle-bags on his back, as Dan Beard suggests. Then, with two dozen
+arrows in your quiver, and your bow, the open trail lies ahead. There
+is always meat to be had for the shooting. The camp fire and your dog
+are companions at night, and at dawn all the world rolls out before you
+as you go. It is a happy life!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When Ishi started to shoot with me, one bowman after another appeared
+on the scene to join us. Among the first came Will Compton, a man of
+mature years and many experiences. Brought up on the plains, he learned
+to shoot the bow with the Sioux Indians. As a boy of fourteen he shot
+his first deer with an arrow. From that time on, deer, elk, antelope,
+birds of all sorts, and even buffalo fell before this primitive weapon.
+He later hunted with the gun until the very ease of killing turned him
+against it. So when he came to us, he was a seasoned archer. Upon a
+visit to a Japanese archery gallery in the Panama-Pacific Exposition he
+met for the first time Arthur Young, also an expert hunter with the
+gun. A friendship sprang up between them, and Compton taught Young to
+shoot the bow.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Compton had worked in the shop of Barnes, the bowmaker of Forest Grove,
+Oregon, and later he went into the Cascade Mountains and cut yew staves
+with an idea of selling them to the English bowyers. The Great War of
+1914 prevented this, and so we had an unlimited supply of yew wood for
+use.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We three gravitated together and shot with Ishi until his last sickness
+and departure. Then our serious work began. We found it not only a
+delightful way of hunting, but a trio makes success more certain in the
+field.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In California there is an abundance of game; small animals exist
+everywhere and there is no better training than to stalk the wary
+ground squirrel or the alert cottontail. These every archer should
+school himself to hit before he ventures after larger beasts.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Infinite patience and practice are needed to make a hunter. He must
+earn his right to take life by the painful effort of constant shooting.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We shot together, and many are the bags of game we filled. We
+discovered in the humble ground squirrel a delectable morsel more
+palatable than chicken; re-discovered it, we may say, because the
+Indian knew it first. In killing these little pests we take to the open
+fields, approach a burrow by creeping up a gully or dip in the land,
+rise up and shoot at such distances as we can. I recall one day when
+Young and I got twenty-four squirrels with the bow. Upon another
+occasion Young by himself secured seventeen in one morning; the last
+five were killed with five successive arrows, the last squirrel being
+forty-two paces away.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Rabbits are best hunted in company. Here the startled rodent skips
+briskly off, down his accustomed run, only to meet another archer
+standing motionless, ready with his arrow.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It seems legitimate with this rudimentary weapon to shoot animals on
+the stand, or set, a sporting permit not granted to the devotee of the
+shotgun, who has a hundred chances to our one.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We found from the very first that the arrow was more humane than the
+gun. Counting all hunters, for every animal brought home with the gun,
+whether duck, quail, or deer, at least two are hit and die in pain in
+the brush.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Just to illustrate this, Mr. Young reported to me the results of his
+shooting with a small rifle at ground squirrels. So expert is he that
+to hit a squirrel in any spot but the head is quite unusual. In one
+day's shooting between himself and his young son, they hit thirty-six
+animals, sixteen of these escaped and disappeared down their burrows,
+there to die later of their wounds.
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<a href="images/134.jpg"><img src="images/134th.jpg" alt="THE PATRON SAINTS OF AMERICAN ARCHERY, WILL AND MAURICE THOMPSON, AS THEY APPEARED IN 1878"></a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With the arrow it is different. Not only is the destructive power as
+great as a small bullet, but the shaft holds the animal so that it
+cannot escape. Practically none are lost in our hunts. A strange
+phenomenon is seen in larger animals; they are easier to kill with an
+arrow than small ones. A shot in either the chest or abdominal cavity
+of a deer is invariably fatal in a few minutes; while a rabbit may
+carry an arrow off until the obstructing undergrowth checks his flight.
+It seems that their vital areas and blood vessels being smaller, are
+less readily injured by the missile. A bullet can crash into the brain
+of an animal, tear out a mass of tissue and generally shatter his
+structure, but cause little bleeding. An arrow wound is clean-cut and
+the hemorrhage is tremendous, but if not immediately fatal, it heals
+readily and does little harm. The pain is no greater with the arrow
+than with the bullet.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Our hunting of squirrel and rabbits was merely preparatory to the
+taking of larger game; but even on our more pretentious expeditions, we
+fill the vacant hours with lesser shooting and fill the camp kettle
+with sweet tidbits.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Many a quail, partridge, sage hen, or grouse has flown from the heather
+into our bag transfixed by a feathered shaft. Both Compton and Young
+have shot ducks and geese, some on the wing. But we cannot compete with
+the experiences of Maurice Thompson who, shooting ninety-eight arrows,
+landed sixteen ducks on the wing.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Some amusing incidents have occurred in bird shooting. We consider the
+bluejay a legitimate mark any day; he is a rascal of the deepest dye,
+so we always shoot at him. Compton once tried one of his long shots at
+a jay on the ground nearly eighty yards off. His line was good, but his
+shot fell short. The arrow skidded and struck the bird in the tail just
+as he left the ground for flight. The two rose together and sailed off
+into space, like an aeroplane, with a preposterously long rudder, the
+arrow out behind. They slowly wheeled in a circle a hundred yards in
+diameter when the bird, nearing the archer, fell exhausted at his feet.
+Compton picked up the jay, drew the arrow from the shallow skin wound
+above his tail, and tossed him in the air. He disappeared with a volley
+of expletives.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With an arrow it is also possible to shoot fish. Many wise old trout,
+incurious and contented, deep in the shadowed pool, have been coaxed to
+the frying pan through the archer's skill. Well I recall once, how
+shooting fish not only brought us meat, but changed our luck. Young and
+I were on a bear hunt. It had been a long, weary and unsuccessful quest
+of the elusive beast. Bears seemed to have become extinct, so we took
+to shooting trout in a quiet little meadow stream. Having buried an
+arrow in the far bank, with a short run and a leap Young cleared the
+brook and landed on the greensward beyond. The succulent turf slipped
+beneath his feet and, like an acrobat, the archer turned a back
+somersault into the cold mountain water. Bow, clattering arrows,
+camera, field glasses and man, all sank beneath the limpid surface.
+With a shout of laughter he clambered to the bank, his faithful bow
+still in his hand, his quiver empty of arrows, but full of water. After
+a hasty salvage of all damaged goods, we journeyed along, no worse for
+the wetting. But immediately we began to see bear signs and ultimately
+got our bruin. Young later said that if he had known the change of luck
+that went with a good ducking, he would have tried it sooner.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We have often been asked if we do not poison our arrow points. Most
+people seem to have the idea that an arrow is too impotent to cause
+death; they conceive it a refined sort of torture and have no
+conception of its destructive nature.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is true that we thought at first of putting poison on our arrows
+intended for lions, and we did coat some broad-heads with mucilage and
+powdered strychnine, but we never used them. My physiologic experiments
+with curare, the South American arrow poison, aconitin, the Japanese
+Ainu poison, and buffogen, the Central American poison, had convinced
+me that strychnine was more deadly. It would not harm the meat in the
+dilution obtained in the blood, and it was cheap and effective.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Buffogen is obtained by the natives by taking the tropical toad, Buffo
+Nigra, enclosing it in a segment of bamboo, heating this over a slow
+fire and gathering the exuded juice of the dessicated batrachian. It is
+a very powerful substance, having an action similar to that of
+adrenalin and strychnine.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Salamandrine, an extract obtained from the macerated skin of the common
+red water-dog, is also violently toxic.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But we had a disgust for these things. We soon learned, moreover, that
+our arrows were sufficient without these adjuncts, and we deemed it
+unsportsmanlike to consider them. Therefore, we abandoned the idea.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Ishi knew of the employment of these killing substances, but he did not
+use them. In his tribe they made a poison by teasing a rattlesnake and
+having it strike a piece of deer's liver. This was later buried in the
+ground until it rotted, and the arrow points were smeared with this
+revolting material. It was a combination of crotalin venom and ptomaine
+poisons, a very deadly mess.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We much prefer the bright, clean knife-blade of our broad-heads to any
+other missile.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The principles involved in seeking game with the bow and arrow are
+those of the still hunt, only more refined.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+An archer's striking distance extends from ten to one hundred yards.
+For small animals it lies between ten and forty; for large game from
+forty to eighty or a hundred. The distance at which most small game
+flush varies with the country in which they live, the nature of their
+enemies, and the prevalence of hunters. Quail and rabbits usually will
+permit a man to approach them within twenty or thirty yards. This they
+have learned is a safe distance for a fox or wildcat who must hurl
+himself at them. It is quite a fair distance for any man with any
+weapon, particularly the bow.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Most small game, especially rabbits, have sufficient curiosity to stand
+after their first startled retreat. Beneath a bush or clump of weeds
+they squat and watch on the <i>qui vive</i>. The arrow may find them there
+when it strikes, but often the very flash of its departure and the
+quick movement of the hand send the little beastie flying to his cover.
+Here two sportsmen working together succeed better; one attracts the
+rabbit's attention, the other shoots the shot.
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<a href="images/139a.jpg"><img src="images/139ath.jpg" alt="SHOOTING BRUSH RABBITS"></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<a href="images/139b.jpg"><img src="images/139bth.jpg" alt="ARCHERS IN AMBUSH"></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<a href="images/139c.jpg"><img src="images/139cth.jpg" alt="ISHI RIDING A HORSE FOR THE FIRST TIME"></a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The marmot or woodchuck, is an impudent and cautious animal and he is a
+difficult mark for a bowman's aim. But nothing has more comic
+situations than an afternoon spent in a ground-hog village. After an
+incontinent scuttle to his burrow, an old warrior backs into his hole,
+then brazenly lifts his head and fastens his glittering eye upon you.
+The contest of quickness then begins; the archer and the marmot play
+shoot and dodge until one after the other all the arrows are exhausted
+or a hit is registered. The ground-hog never quits. I can recall one
+strenuous noon hour in an outcropping of rock where, between shattered
+arrows, precipitous chasing of transfixed old warriors, defiant
+whistlers on all sides, we piled up nearly a dozen victims.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Quail hunting requires careful shooting, but it is good training for
+the bowman. A sentinel cock, sitting on a low limb, warns his covey of
+our approach, but he himself makes a gallant mark for the archer. I saw
+Compton spit such a bird on his arrow at fifty yards, while a confused
+scurrying flock made easy shooting for two hunters. I am ashamed to say
+that we have often taken advantage of the evening roosting of these
+birds in trees to secure a supper for ourselves.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But the archer must exercise caution in this team work in the brush. He
+should never forget that an arrow will kill a man as readily as it does
+an animal and that one should always consider where his shot ultimately
+will land, both for the purpose of finding his shaft and avoiding
+accidents. Arrows have a great habit of glancing. Once when hunting
+quail in a patch of willow in a dry wash, Compton shot at a bird on a
+branch, missed it, and at the same instant Young, who was on the
+opposite side of the thicket, heard a thwack at his right and turned to
+find a broad-head arrow buried up to the barbs in a willow limb just
+the height of the heart. It gave us all pause for thought. Look before
+you shoot!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While small game may be taken by tactics of moderate cunning, larger
+and more wary animals must be hunted by artful measures. Deer, still
+abundant in our land, and properly safeguarded by game laws, test the
+woodsman's skill to the utmost. To learn the art of finding deer, or
+successful approach and ultimate capture, one must study life in the
+open. Let him read the work of Van Dyke on still-hunting
+[Footnote: <i>The Still-hunter</i>, by Van Dyke. The Macmillan Co.]
+to gain some idea of the many problems entailed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In our country we have the Columbia black tail deer. Of course, only
+bucks should be shot; as an old forest ranger said to me, "Does ain't
+deer." And no one but a starving man would shoot a fawn. Here bucks are
+hunted only in the fall, just as they shed their velvet and before the
+rutting season. At this time they keep pretty quiet in the brush or
+seek the higher lookout points on mountain ridges. They browse mostly
+at night and are to be met wandering to water or back to their beds.
+The older ones lie very quietly and seldom move far from their cover.
+Sometimes in the heat of the day they stir about or go to drink. The
+younger bucks are more audacious and seem to feel that their wisdom and
+strength can carry them anywhere. For this reason a two-year-old or
+forked horn is much more frequently brought down.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is interesting to note that even in this day of civilization and the
+extinction of wild life, deer are to be found within a radius of twenty
+miles from our largest cities in California. We, however, invariably
+journey by rail or motor car from fifty to three hundred miles to do
+most of our hunting. We seek those regions that are most primeval. Here
+game is largely in an undisturbed condition. From some station or
+outpost we pack with horses into the foothills or higher levels of the
+Coast Range or Sierra Nevada Mountains. Having made camp in a sheltered
+spot, we hunt on foot over the adjacent country.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Just at dawn and at sunset are the favorite times for finding deer.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The hunters rise from their sleeping bags, make a hasty meal of coffee
+and cakes, and long before the light of dawn sweeps the eastern sky,
+they must be on the trail. Silently and alert they enter the land of
+suspected deer. Taking advantage of every bit of cover, traveling into
+the wind where possible, looking at every shadow, every spot of moving
+color, they advance. Where trails exist they follow these, or if the
+ground be carpeted with soft pine needles, they flit between the deeper
+shades of the forest, watchful, and hearing every woodland sound.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Often the crashing bound of a deer through the brush proves that
+cautious though the archer may be, more cautious is the deer. Or having
+seen him first, the archer crouches, advances to a favorable spot,
+gauges the distance, clears his eye, and nerves himself for a supreme
+effort. He draws his sturdy bow till the sharpened barb pricks his
+finger and bids him loose--a hit, a leap, a clattering flight. Watching
+and immovable, the archer listens with straining ears. He must not
+stir, he must not follow; later he can trail the quarry. Give the
+wounded deer time to lie down and die, then find him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is a surprising experience to see animals stand and let arrows fall
+about them without fear. An archer has special privileges because he
+uses nature's tools.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The whizzing missile is no more than a passing bird to the beast. What
+hurt can that bring? The quiet man is only an interesting object on the
+landscape, there is no noise to cause alarm. Most animals are ruled by
+curiosity till fright takes control. But some are less curious than
+others, notably the turkey. There is a story among sportsmen that
+describes this in the Indian's speech. "Deer see Injun. Deer say, 'I
+see Injun; no, him stump; no, him Injun; no, maybe stump.' Injun shoot.
+Turkey see Injun; he say, 'I see Injun.' He go!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The use of dogs in deer hunting should be restricted to trailing
+wounded animals. Here a little mongrel, if properly trained, serves
+better than a blooded breed. No dog should be permitted to run deer,
+especially if wounded. It is only the dog's nose we need, not his legs.
+An ideal canine for an archer would be one having the olfactory organs
+of a hound and the reasoning capacity of a college professor. With him
+one could trail animals, yet not flush them; perceive the imminence of
+game, yet not startle it; run coyotes, wolves, cougars, and bear, yet
+never confuse their scent nor abandon the quest of one for that of
+another. But as it is, no dog seems capable of doing all things, so we
+need specialists. A good bear and lion dog should never taste deer meat
+nor follow his tracks.
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<a href="images/144a.jpg"><img src="images/144ath.jpg" alt="A REST AT NOON"></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<a href="images/144b.jpg"><img src="images/144bth.jpg" alt="A LYNX THAT MET AN ARCHER"></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<a href="images/144c.jpg"><img src="images/144cth.jpg" alt="THE CHIEF LOOKING OVER GOOD DEER COUNTRY"></a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A good coon dog should stick to coons and let rabbits alone. And the
+sort of dog an archer needs for deer is one that can point them, yet
+will not follow one unless it is wounded.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Every good dog will come to the ringing note of the horn.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And after all, there lies the soul of the sport. The fragrance of the
+earth, the deep purple valleys, the wooded mountain slopes, the clean
+sweet wind, the mysterious murmur of the tree tops, all call the hunter
+forth. When he hears the horn and the baying hound his heart leaps
+within him, he grasps his good yew bow, girds his quiver on his hip,
+and enters a world of romance and adventure.
+</p>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<h2><a name="x">X</a></h2>
+
+<h3>THE RACCOON, WILDCAT, FOX, COON, CAT, AND WOLF</h3>
+
+<p>
+Of all the canny beasts, Brother Coon is the wisest, and were it not
+for his imprudence and self-assurance, he would be less frequently
+captured than the coyote, who is also a very clever gentleman. As it
+is, a raccoon hunt is a nocturnal escapade that may be enjoyed by any
+lively boy or man who happens to own a coon dog.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now a coon dog is any sort of a dog that has a sporting instinct and a
+large propensity for combat. We have, of course, that product of
+culture and breeding, the coon hound, an offshoot from the English fox
+hound. This dog is a marvel in his own sphere.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Although we have not devoted a great deal of time to coon hunting, one
+or another of our group has counted the scalps of quite a number of
+<i>Procyon lotor</i>. Having been accepted as a companion of one or two or
+more ambitious and enthusiastic dogs, we start out at dusk to hunt the
+creek bottoms for coons. Provided with bows, blunt arrows, and a
+lantern, we unleash the dogs, and the fun begins.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One must be prepared to scramble through blackberry vines, nettles,
+tangled swamps, and to climb trees. The dogs busy themselves sniffing
+and working through the underbrush, crossing the creek back and forth,
+investigating old hollow trees, displaying signs of exaggerated
+interest and industry.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Suddenly there is a change in their vocal expression. Heretofore the
+short, snappy bark has spoken only of anticipation and eagerness; now
+there comes the instinctive yelp of the questing beast, the hound on
+the scent. It bursts from them like a wail from the distant past. As if
+shot, they are off in a bunch. A clatter of sounds, scratching,
+rustling, and scrambling, we hear them tearing through the brush. We
+follow, but are soon outdistanced. Down the creek bed we go, splash
+through mud, clamber over logs, stop, listen, and hear them baying,
+afar off. Their voices rise in a chorus, some are high-pitched,
+incessant yelps, some are deep-voiced, bell-like tones. We know they
+have him treed and, breathless, we push forward, arriving in the order
+of our physical vigor, those with the best legs and lungs coming first.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+High up in a tree, out on a limb, we see a shadowy form and two glowing
+orbs--that is the coon. The dogs are insistent; since they cannot
+climb, although they try, man must rout the victim out. Somebody turns
+a flashlight on the varmint. Frank Ferguson is the champion coon
+hunter; so he draws a blunt arrow from his quiver, takes quick aim and
+shoots. A dull thud tells that he has hit, but the coon does not fall.
+Another arrow whistles past, registering a miss; then a sharp click as
+the blunt point of the third arrow strikes the creature's head, a
+stifled snarl, a falling body, a rush of dogs on the ground, and all is
+over. The hounds are delighted, and we count one chicken thief the
+less.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Sometimes the coon becomes the aggressor. He boldly enters our camp at
+night and purloins a savory ham or rifles the larder and eats a pound
+of butter. He fully deserves what is coming to him. I loose Teddy and
+Dixie, my two faithful hounds. The morning mist is rising from the
+stream, the tree trunks are barely visible in the early dawn, the
+grasses drip with dew.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The eager dogs take up the trail and start on a run up the stream bank.
+They cross on a great fallen tree and mount the wooded hill on the
+other side where I lose them in the jungle. I run on by instinct,
+listening for their directing bark. Once in a while I catch it faintly
+in the distance. They must be mounting rapidly and too busy to bark.
+Again it is audible far off to my left and I force my tired legs to
+renewed energy, climbing higher and higher.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Up I mount through the forest, alert for the telltale yelp. There it
+is, a whine and faint, stifled guttural sounds, but so indistinct and
+so obscured by the prattle of the stream and the murmuring tree tops
+that I fail to locate it. So I flounder on through vines and
+underbrush, wondering where my dogs have gone. I blow the horn and
+Dixie answers with a pathetic howl, away off to the right. I run and
+blow the horn again; again that puppy whine. Teddy doesn't answer and I
+wonder how Dixie could have been lost, though after all, he is only a
+recent graduate from the kennel and unseasoned in this world of canine
+misery and wisdom. Unexpectedly, I come upon him, looking very
+disconsolate and somewhat mauled. There is no doubt about it, he has
+rushed in where angels fear to tread. He has received a recent lesson
+in coon hunting. So I console him with a little petting and ask him
+where is Teddy. Just then I hear a subterranean gurgle and scuffle and
+rushing off to a nearby clump of trees, I find that away down under the
+ground in a hollow stump, there is a death struggle going on--Teddy and
+the coon are having it out. From the sounds I know that Ted has him by
+the throat and is waiting for the end. But he seems very weak himself.
+As I shout down the hole to encourage him, the coon, with one final
+effort, wrests himself free from the dog and comes scuttling out of the
+hole. With undignified haste I back away from the outlet and fumble a
+blunt arrow on the string, and I am just in time, for here comes one of
+the maddest and one of the sickest coons I ever saw. With a hasty shot
+back of the ear, I bowl him over and put him out of his misery. Turning
+him over with my foot to make sure he is finished, I note how desperate
+the fight must have been. His neck and brisket are a mass of mangled
+flesh and skin. Then reaching deep down in the hole I grab poor
+exhausted Teddy by the scruff of his neck, lift him out, and let him
+regain his breath in the fresh air. He certainly is a weary champion.
+The coon has bitten him viciously between the legs and along the
+abdomen. After a while we all go down to the stream and there bathe the
+wounded heroes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With the rascally old coon over my shoulder, we three wander back to
+camp in time for congratulations and wonderment of the children and the
+consolation of hot victuals.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+That is a typical coon hunt with us. Some are less damaging to the
+dogs, but usually this little cousin of the bears is able to give a
+good account of himself in the contest.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Ferguson and his pack of fox terriers have had more experience with the
+redoubtable raccoon than the rest of us; he hunts them for their pelts.
+He is also a trapper for the market and long since has found that the
+blunt arrow shot from a light bow serves very admirably for dispatching
+the captured varmint when once trapped.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The fox is more difficult to meet in the wilds. His business hours are
+also at night, but he extends them not infrequently both into the
+sunrise and twilight zones. One of the most beautiful sights I ever
+witnessed came unexpectedly while hunting deer.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was evening; dusky shadows merged all objects into a common drab.
+Two silent, graceful foxes rose over the crest of a little eminence of
+ground before me. Outlined distinctly against a red dirt bank across
+the ravine, they stood just for a moment in surprise. I drew my bow and
+instantly loosed an arrow at the foremost. It flew swift as a
+night-hawk and with a rush of wind passed his head. As is usual at
+dusk, I had overestimated the distance. It was but forty yards; I
+thought it fifty.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Half-startled, but not alarmed, the two foxes fixed their gaze upon me
+a second, then gracefully, and with infinite ease, they cleared a
+three-foot bush without a run and disappeared in the gloom.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But in that leap I gained all the thrill that I missed with my arrow.
+Such facile grace I never saw. Without an effort they rose, hovered an
+instant in midair, straightened their wonderful bushy tails as an
+aeroplane readjusts its flight, and soared level across the obstacle.
+One final downward curve of that beautiful counterbalance landed them
+smoothly on the distant side of the bush where, with uninterrupted
+speed, they vanished from sight. For the first time I appreciated why a
+fox has such a light, long, fluffy caudal appendage. Marvelous!
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<a href="images/151a.jpg"><img src="images/151ath.jpg" alt="MR. COON BROUGHT INTO CAMP"></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<a href="images/151b.jpg"><img src="images/151bth.jpg" alt="A PRETTY PAIR OF WINGS"></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<a href="images/151c.jpg"><img src="images/151cth.jpg" alt="JUST A LITTLE HUNT BEFORE BREAKFAST"></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<a href="images/151d.jpg"><img src="images/151dth.jpg" alt="YOUNG AND COMPTON WITH A QUAIL APIECE"></a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Often at night when coming late to camp through the woods, a fox has
+emerged from the outer sphere of darkness and given a querulous little
+bark at me. Wheeling with a bright light on the head, I could have shot
+him, but then he is such a harmless little denizen of the woods that I
+hate to kill him. But after all, is he really harmless? The little
+culprit! He actually does a deal of harm, destroying birds' nests,
+eating the young, catching quail and rabbits--I don't know that we
+should spare him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With horses and hounds we have chased many foxes over the sage and
+chaparral-covered hills.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The fox terrier and the black and tan are excellent dogs for this sort
+of work. These little hunters are keen for the sport and make their way
+beneath the brush where a larger dog follows with difficulty. With
+strident yelps the pack picks up the hot trail, and off they rush,
+helter skelter, through the sage and chaparral; we circle and cross
+cut, dash down the draw, traverse the open forest meadow and follow the
+furious procession into the trees.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There the hard-pressed little fox makes a final spurt for a large red
+pine, leaps straight for the bare trunk, mounts like a squirrel and
+gains a rotten limb, panting with effort. As we approach he climbs
+still higher and lodges himself securely in the crotch of the tree,
+gazing furtively down at the dogs.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Who ever thought that a fox could climb such a tree! It was twenty feet
+to the first foothold on a decayed branch; yet there he was, and we saw
+him do it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Sometimes when the fleeing fox has mounted a smaller tree, we have
+shaken him from his perch and let the dogs deal with him as they think
+best--for a dog must not be too often cheated of his conquest or he
+loses heart. Sometimes we have mounted the tree and slipped a noose
+over the fox's neck, brought him close, tied his wicked little jaws
+tightly together with a thong, packed him off on the horse to show him
+to the children in camp, and later given him his liberty. Or, as in the
+case of our little villain up the pine tree, we have drawn a careful
+arrow and settled his life problems with a broad-head.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In winter time the trap and the blunt arrow add another fur collar to
+the coat of the feminine sybarite.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The woods and plains are full of hunters. The hawk is on the wing; the
+murderous mink and weasel never cease their crimes; the bird seeks the
+slothful worm and jumping insect; the fox, cat, and wolf forever quest
+for food. And so we, hunting in the early morning light, once saw a
+flock of quail flushed long before our presence should have given them
+cause for flight. Compton and Young, arrows nocked and muscles taut,
+crept cautiously to the thicket of wild roses out of which flew the
+quail. There, stooping low, they saw the spotted legs of a lynx softly
+stalking the birds. Aiming above the legs where surely there must be a
+body, Young sped an arrow. There was a thud, a snarl, and an animal
+tore through the crackling bushes. Out from the other side bounded the
+cat, and there, not twenty yards off, he met Compton. Like a flash
+another arrow flew at him, flew through him, and down he tumbled, a
+flurry of scratching claws, torn up grasses and dust. Young's arrow,
+having been a blunt barbed head, still lodged in his chest, and as the
+lynx succumbed to death I took his picture.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lazy, sleepy cat, both lynx and wildcats, we meet not infrequently on
+our travels. Still they are ever up to mischief in spite of their
+indolent casual appearance. Often have we seen them slink out from a
+bunch of cover, cross the open hillside, and there, if within range,
+receive an archer's salute. Many times we miss them, sometimes we hit;
+but that's not the point, we are not so anxious to get them as to send
+greetings.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then, too, since Ishi taught us to do it, we have called these wary
+creatures from the thicket and sometimes got a shot.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With the dogs, the story is soon told and the rôle of the bowman is
+without triumph; so for this reason, we prefer the accidental meetings
+and impromptu adventures to the more certain contact. Still when at
+night we hear the tingling call of the lynx up in the woods, we yearn
+for a willing dog and a taut bowstring.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With the distant barking wail of the prairie wolf or coyote, one feels
+differently. I presume that man has become so accustomed to the dog
+that he has rather a kindly feeling toward this little brother of the
+plains, called by the Aztecs coyote, or "wild one." We know his evil
+propensities and his economic menace, but still we love him, or at
+least, look upon him much as the Indians do, as a sort of comedian
+among animals.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Ishi used to tell me of his laughable experiences with coyotes. When
+coming home at night with a haunch of venison on his shoulder, a band
+of these gamins of the wilds would follow him teasing at his heels.
+Ishi would turn upon them with feigned fury and chase them back into
+the shadows or wield his bow as a short lance and jab them vigorously
+in the ribs--when he could.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With him the coyote was the reincarnation of a mythical character, half
+buffoon, half magician. He was cunning, crafty, humorous, and evil, all
+in one, and no doings of the animal folk ever progressed very far
+without the entrance of the "coyote doctor" on the scene. He was the
+doer of tricks and caster of spells, but still he himself met with
+misadventure--witness how he lost his claws. Of course, he had long
+claws like the bear in the beginning, and fine silky fur. But one
+night, coming weary from hunting and cold, he crept into a hollow oak
+gall to sleep. The wind fanned the embers of the camp-fire and the dry
+grass burst into a blaze. It swept up to the sleeping coyote, where
+only his feet protruded from his hollow spherical den. Here they hung
+out for lack of room. So, of course, his claws were burned off before
+the pain wakened him. He leaped out of his nest, dashed through the
+blaze, and plunged into the creek, not in time, however, to keep his
+beautiful long hair from being singed. Even to this day he has that
+half-scorched, moth-eaten pelt, and his claws are only those of a
+coyote.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When met in the open, the prairie wolf seems so weary and listless. If
+at a distance, he protests at your entrance upon his domain with a
+forlorn wail, or insolently stares at you from a ridge. He sits and
+looks or moves about dyspeptically waiting for you to go.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Once I remember that we saw one sitting on his haunches a hundred and
+eighty yards away. Compton loosed an arrow at him, one of those
+whining, complaining shafts that drone through the air. The coyote
+heard it coming; he pricked up his ears, pointed his nose skyward, rose
+and limped lively to the left, turned, peered into the sky, and ran a
+short distance to the right, then loped off just in time to be missed
+by the descending arrow, which landed exactly where he sat originally.
+It was indeed a most ludicrous performance, incidentally a splendid
+shot.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Just as with a rifle, the coyote simply is not there when your missile
+strikes. He doesn't seem to bestir himself greatly, but just seems to
+drag himself out of harm's way at the last moment. How often have we
+let fly at him, sometimes at a group of them, but seldom has he been
+hit. A beginner's luck seems to fool him, however. One of our neophytes
+with the bow, having had his tackle less than a month, was out riding
+in his new automobile in company with a group of friends. The bow at
+that time was his vade-mecum; he never left it home. He chanced to see
+a stray coyote near the side of the highway when, after passing it a
+hundred yards or so, he stopped his machine, grabbed his trusty weapon,
+which he had hardly learned to shoot, strung it, nocked an arrow, and
+ran back to take a shot at the animal in question. His eagerness and
+obvious incapacity so amused the gay company in the machine, that they
+cheered him on with laughter and ridicule.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Undaunted, our bowman hastened back, saw the crafty beast retreating in
+a slinking gallop, drew his faithful bow, and shot at sixty yards.
+Unerringly the fatal shaft flew, struck the coyote back of the ear and
+laid him low without a quiver.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Mad with unexpected triumph, our archer dragged his slain victim back
+to the car to meet the jeering company, and confounded them with his
+success. Loud were the shouts of joy; a war dance ensued to celebrate
+the great event. When done the merry party cranked up the machine and
+sped on its fragrant way, a happier and a more enlightened bevy of
+children.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Thus is shown the danger of utter innocence.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+These chance meetings seem rather unlucky for coyotes. Frank Ferguson,
+when trapping in the foothills of the Sierras, repeatedly had his traps
+robbed by an impudent member of the wolf family. One day while making
+his regular rounds and approaching a set, he saw in the distance a
+coyote run off with the catch of his trap. Seeing that the wolf turned
+up a branch creek, Ferguson cut across the intervening neck of the
+woods to intercept him if possible. He reached the stream bottom at the
+moment the coyote came trotting past. Having a blunt arrow on the
+bowstring, he shot across the twenty-five yards of bank, and quite
+unexpectedly cracked the animal on the foreleg, breaking the bone. A
+jet of blood spurted out with astonishing force, and the brute
+staggered for a space of time. This gave Ferguson a moment to nock a
+second shaft, a broad-head, and with that accuracy known to come in
+excitement, he drove it completely through the animal's body, killing
+it instantly. When next we met after this episode, he showed me the
+bloody arrows and wolf skin as mute evidence of his skill.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Ferguson was won over to archery when, as packer upon our first trip
+together, he asked Compton to show him what could be done with the bow
+in the way of accurate shooting. Compton is particularly good at long
+ranges, so he pointed out a bush about one hundred and seventy-five
+yards distant. It was about the size of a dog. Compton took unusual
+care with his shots, and dropped three successive arrows in that bush.
+When "Ferg" saw this he took the bow seriously.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The timber wolf is seldom met in our clime, and so for this reason he
+has been spared the fate common to all fearsome beasts that cross the
+trail of an archer. But with that fateful hope which has foreshadowed
+and seemingly insured our subsequent achievement, I fervently wish that
+some day we may meet, wolf and bowman.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the absence of this the more austere and wicked member of the
+family, we shall continue from time to time to speed a questing arrow
+in the general direction of the furtive coyote.
+</p>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<h2><a name="xi">XI</a></h2>
+
+<h3>DEER HUNTING</h3>
+
+<p>
+Deer are the most beautiful animals of the woods. Their grace, poise,
+agility, and alertness make them a lovely and inspiring sight. To see
+them feed undisturbed is wonderful; such mincing steps, such dainty
+nibbling is a lesson in culture. With wide, lustrous eyes, mobile ears
+ever listening, with moist, sensitive nostrils testing every vagrant
+odor in the air, they are the embodiment of hypersensitive
+self-preservation. And yet deer are not essentially timid animals. They
+will venture far through curiosity, and I have seen them from the
+hilltop, being run by dogs, play and trifle with their pursuers. The
+dog, hampered by brush and going only by scent, follows implicitly the
+trail. The deer runs, leaps high barriers, doubles on his tracks, stops
+to browse at a tempting bush, even waits for the dog to catch up with
+him, and leads him on in a merry chase. I feel sure that unless badly
+cornered or confused by a number of dogs or wolves, the deer does not
+often develop great fear, nor is he hard put to it in these episodes.
+Quite likely there is an element of sport in it with him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Why men should kill deer is a moot question, but it is a habit of the
+brute. For so many hundreds of years have we been at it, that we can
+hardly be expected to reform immediately. Undoubtedly, it is a sign of
+undeveloped ethnic consciousness. We are depraved animals. I must admit
+that there are quite a number of things men do that mark them as far
+below the angels, but in a way I am glad of it. The thrill and glow of
+nature is strong within us. The great primitive outer world is still
+unconquered, and there are impulses within the breast of man not yet
+measured, curbed and devitalized, which are the essential motives of
+life. Therefore, without wantonness, and without cruelty, we shall hunt
+as long as the arm has strength, the eye glistens, and the heart
+throbs.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lead on!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To go deer hunting, the archer should seek a country unspoiled by
+civilization and gunpowder. It should approach as nearly as possible
+the pristine wilderness of our forefathers. The game should be
+unharried by the omnipresent and dangerous nimrod. In fact, as a matter
+of safety, an archer particularly should avoid those districts overrun
+by the gunman. The very methods employed by the bowman make him a ready
+target for the unerring, accidental bullet.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Never go in company with those using firearms; never carry firearms.
+The first spoils your hunting, and the second is unnecessary and only
+gives your critic a chance to say that you used a gun to kill your
+animal, then stuck it full of arrows to take its picture.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On our deer hunts we first decide upon the location, usually in some
+mountain ranch owned by a man who is willing and anxious to have us
+hunt on his grounds. The sporting proposition of shooting deer with a
+bow strikes the fancy of most men in the country. If we are unfamiliar
+with the district, the rancher can give us valuable information
+concerning the location of bucks, and this saves time. Usually he is
+our guide and packer, supplying the horses and equipment for a
+compensation, so we are welcome. Some of the intimate relations
+established on these expeditions are among the pleasantest features of
+our vacation.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Having reached the hunting grounds, we make camp. Tents are pitched,
+stores unpacked and arranged, beds made and all put in order for a stay
+of days or weeks.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Each archer has with him two or more bows, and anywhere from two to six
+dozen arrows. About half of these are good broad-heads and the rest are
+blunts or odd scraps to be shot away at birds on the wing, at marks, or
+some are shot in pure exhilaration across deep canyons.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As a rule, there are two or three of us in the party, and we hunt
+together.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Having decided what seems the best buck ground, we rise before daylight
+and, having eaten, strike out to reach the proposed spot before
+sunrise. There we spread out, approximately a bowshot apart, that is to
+say, two hundred yards. In parallel courses we traverse the country;
+one just below the ridges where one nearly always finds a game trail;
+one part way down, working through the wooded draws; and the third
+going through the timber edge where deer are likely to lurk or bed
+down.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In this way we cross-cut a good deal of country, and one or the other
+is likely to come upon or rout out a buck. With great caution we
+progress very quietly, searching every bit of cover, peering at every
+fallen log, where deer often lie, standing to scrutinize every
+conspicuous twig in anticipation that it may be horns. Does, of course,
+we see in plenty. So carefully do we approach that often we have come
+up within ten yards of female deer. Once Compton sneaked up on a doe
+nursing her fawn. He crept so close that he could have thrown his hat
+on them. While he watched, the mother got restless, seemed to sense
+danger without scenting or seeing it. She moved off slowly, pulling her
+teats out of the eager fawn's mouth, gave a flip to her hind legs and
+hopped over him, then meandered leisurely to the crest of the hill. The
+little fellow, unperturbed, licked his chops, ran his tongue up his
+nose, shook his ears, and seeing mother waiting for him, trotted away
+unaware of the possible danger of man. But we do not shoot does.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So we travel. Sometimes a startled deer bounds down the hillside
+leaving us chagrined and disappointed. Sometimes one tries this and is
+defeated. One evening as we returned to camp, making haste because of
+the rapidly falling night, we startled a deer that plunged down the
+steep slope before us. Instantly Compton drew to the head and shot. His
+arrow led the bounding animal by ten yards. Just as the deer reached
+cover at a distance of seventy-five yards, the arrow struck. It entered
+his flank, ranged forward and emerged at the point of the opposite
+shoulder. The deer turned and dashed into the bush. As it did so the
+protruding arrow shaft snapped; we descended and picked up the broken
+piece. Following the crashing descent of the buck down the canyon, we
+found him some two hundred yards below, crumpled up and dead against a
+madrone tree. It was a heart shot, one of the finest I ever hope to
+see. Compton is a master at the judgment of distance and the speed of
+running game.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Having worked out a piece of country by the method of sub-division, we
+meet at a pre-arranged rendezvous and plan another sortie.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+If the sun has not risen above the peaks, we continue this method of
+combing the land until we know the time for bucks has passed. For this
+reason we work the high points first, and the lower points last, for in
+this way we take advantage of the slowly advancing illumination.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Sometimes, using glasses, we pick out a buck at a considerable
+distance, either in his solitary retreat, or with a band of deer; and
+we go after him. Here we figure out where he is traveling and make a
+detour to intercept him. This is often heartbreaking work, up hill and
+down dale, but all part of the game.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Young and Compton brought low a fine buck by this means on one of our
+recent hunts. Seeing a three-pointer a mile distant, we all advanced at
+a rapid pace. We reached suitable vantage ground just as the buck
+became aware of our presence. At eighty yards Young shot an arrow and
+pierced him through the chest. The deer leaped a ravine and took refuge
+in a clump of bay trees. We surrounded this cover and waited for his
+exit. Since he did not come out after due waiting, Compton cautiously
+invaded the wooded area, saw the wounded deer deep in thought; he
+finished him with a broad-head through the neck.
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<a href="images/164a.jpg"><img src="images/164ath.jpg" alt="WOODCHUCKS GALORE!"></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<a href="images/164b.jpg"><img src="images/164bth.jpg" alt="PORCUPINE QUILLS TO DECORATE A QUIVER"></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<a href="images/164c.jpg"><img src="images/164cth.jpg" alt="A FATAL ARROW AT 65 YARDS"></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<a href="images/164d.jpg"><img src="images/164dth.jpg" alt="THE CHIEF AND ART GET A BUCK AT 85 YARDS"></a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Not having had any large experience myself in hunting deer with
+firearms, the use of the bow presented no great contrast. Mr. Young has
+often said, however, that it gave him more pleasure to shoot at a deer
+and miss it with an arrow, than to kill all the deer he ever had with a
+gun. For my part, I did not want to kill anything with a gun. It did
+not seem fair; so until I took up archery, I did not care to hunt.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Therefore, the analysis of my feelings interested me considerably as we
+began to have experiences with the bow.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The first deer I shot at was so far off that there was no chance to hit
+it, but I let drive just to get the sensation. My arrow sailed
+harmlessly over its back. The next I shot at was within good range, but
+my arrow only grazed its rump. And that deer did something that I never
+saw before. It sagged in the middle until its belly nearly touched the
+ground, then it gathered its seemingly weakened legs beneath it, and
+galloped off in a series of bucks. We laughed immoderately over its
+antics; in fact, some of our adventures have been most ludicrous at
+times.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Once, when two of us shot at an old stag together as it raced far off
+down the trail, the two arrows dropped twenty yards ahead of it.
+Instantly the stag came to an abrupt stop, smelled first one arrow at
+one side of the trail, and the other on the opposite side, deliberated
+a moment, bolted sidewise and disappeared. What he got in his olfactory
+investigation must have been confusing. He smelled man; he smelled
+turkey feathers; and he smelled paint. What sort of animals do you
+think he imagined the arrows to be?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This reminds me that Ishi always said that a white man smelled like a
+horse, and in hunting made a noise like one, but apparently he doesn't
+always have horse sense.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I saw this exemplified upon one occasion. When camped in a beautiful
+little spot we were disturbed by the arrival of a party of some four
+men, five horses, and three dogs--all heavily accoutred for the chase.
+With our quiet Indian methods, we caused little excitement in the land,
+but they burst in upon us with a fury that warned all game for miles
+around.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The day after their arrival, alone on a trail, I heard one of this band
+approaching; half a mile above me his noise preceded him. Down he came
+over brush and stones. I stepped quietly beside a bush and waited as I
+would for an oncoming elephant. With gun at right shoulder arms,
+knapsack and canteen rattling, spiked shoes crunching, he marched past
+me, eyes straight ahead; walking within ten yards and never saw me.
+Twenty deer must have seen him where he saw one. That night this same
+man came straggling wearily into our midst and asked the way to his
+camp. He explained that he had put a piece of paper on a tree to guide
+him, but that he could not find the tree. We asked him what luck. He
+said that there were only does in the country. Perhaps he was right,
+because that is all they shot. We found two down in the gullies after
+they had gone. For a week they hunted all over the place with horses,
+guns, and dogs, and got no legitimate game. During this same time,
+beneath their very noses, we got two fine bucks. So much for the men of
+iron.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The first buck I ever landed with the bow thrilled me to such an extent
+that every detail is memorable. After a long, hard morning hunt, I was
+returning to camp alone. It was nearly noon; the sun beat down on the
+pungent dust of the trail, and all nature seemed sleepy. The air, heavy
+with the fragrance of the pines, hardly stirred.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I was walking wearily along thinking of food, when suddenly my outer
+visual fields picked up the image of a deer. I stopped. There, eighty
+yards away, stood a three-year-old buck, grazing under an oak. His back
+was toward me. I crouched and sneaked nearer. My arrow was nocked on
+the string. The distance I measured carefully with my eye; it was now
+sixty-five yards. Just then the deer raised its head. I let fly an
+arrow at its neck. It flew between its horns. The deer gave a started
+toss to its head, listened a second, then dipped its crest again to
+feed. I nocked another shaft. As it raised its head again I shot. This
+arrow flew wide of the neck, but at the right elevation. The buck now
+was more startled and jumped so that it stood profile to me, looking
+and listening. I dropped upon one knee. A little rising ground and
+intervening brush partially concealed me. As I drew a third arrow from
+my quiver its barb caught in the rawhide, and I swore a soft vicious
+oath to steady my nerves. Then drawing my bow carefully, lowering my
+aim and holding like grim death, I shot a beautifully released arrow.
+It sped over the tops of the dried grass seeming to skim the ground
+like a bird, and struck the deer full and hard in the chest. It was a
+welcome thud. The beast leaped, bounded off some thirty yards,
+staggered, drew back its head and wilted in the hind legs. I had stayed
+immovable as wood. Seeing him failing, I ran swiftly forward, and
+almost on the run at forty yards I drove a second arrow through his
+heart. The deer died instantly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Conflicting emotions of compassion and exultation surged through me,
+and I felt weak, but I ran to my quarry, lifted his head on my knee and
+claimed him in the name of Robin Hood.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Looking him over, it was apparent that my second shaft had hit him in
+the base of the heart, emerged through the breast and only stopped in
+its flight by striking the foreleg. The first arrow had gone completely
+through the back part of the chest, severed the aorta, and flown past
+him. There it lay, sticking deep into the ground twenty yards beyond
+the spot where he stood when shot.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After the body had been cleaned and cooled in the shade of an oak, we
+packed it home in the twilight, an easy burden for a light heart. This
+is the fulfilment of the hunter's quest. It was the sweetest venison we
+ever tasted.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We have had little experience in trailing deer on the snow and none in
+the use of dogs to run them. Doubtless, the latter method under some
+conditions is admirable, particularly in very brushy countries.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But we have preferred the still hunt. Lying in wait at licks we have
+done so to study animal life and in conjunction with the Indian to
+learn his methods, but neither the lick nor the ambush appealed to us
+as sport. In fact, we have hunted deer more for meat than for trophies,
+and quite a number of our kills have been in a way incidental to
+hunting mountain lions or other predatory animals.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Once, when on a lion trail, the dogs ran down a steep trail ahead of
+me, and there in the creek bottom they started a fine large buck. On
+each side of the path the brush was very high, and up this corridor
+dashed the buck. There was no room for him to pass, and he came upon me
+with a rush. When less than twenty yards away, I hastily drew my bow
+and drove an arrow deep into his breast. With a lateral bound he
+cleared the brushy hedge and was lost to view. The dogs had been
+trained not to follow deer; but since they saw me shoot it, they ran in
+hot pursuit. I sounded my horn and brought them back, and scolded them.
+But fearing to lose the deer, I decided to go down to the ranch house,
+a couple of miles away, and borrow Jasper and his dog, Splinters. Now
+Splinters was some sort of a mongrel fise, an insignificant-looking
+little beast that had come originally from the city and presumably was
+hopelessly civilized. Jasper, however, had recognized in him certain
+latent talents and had trained him to follow wounded deer. He paid no
+attention to any scent except that of deer blood. In an accidental
+encounter with the hind foot of a horse, Splinters had lost the sight
+of one eye and the use of one ear; but in spite of the lopsided
+progression occasioned by this disability, he was infallible with
+wounded bucks.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So Jasper came, and Splinters trotted along at his heels. At the spot
+where the deer leaped off the trail, we let the dog smell a drop of
+blood. After a deliberate, unexcited investigation, he began to wander
+through the brush. Occasionally he stopped to stand on his hind legs
+and nose the chaparral above him, then wandered on. Just about this
+time I stepped on a rattlesnake, and, after a hasty change of location,
+directed my efforts toward dispatching the snake. By the time I had
+finished this worthy deed, Jasper and Splinters were lost to view; so I
+sat down and waited. After a quarter of an hour I heard a distant
+whistle.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Following Jasper's signal, I descended to the creek below me, went a
+short distance up a side branch, and there were all three--Jasper,
+Splinters, and the deer. The latter had made almost a complete circle,
+half a mile in extent, and dropped in the creek, not a hundred yards
+from his starting point.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+My arrow had caused a most destructive wound in the lungs and great
+vessels of the chest, and it was remarkable that the animal could have
+gone so far. We were of the opinion that if my own dogs had not started
+to run him, the deer would have gone but a short distance and lain down
+where in a few minutes we could have found him dead.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While, after all, the object of deer hunting is to get your deer, it
+does seem that some of our keenest delight has been when we have missed
+it. So far, we have never shot one of those massive old bucks with
+innumerable points to his antlers; they have all been adolescent or
+prospective patriarchs. But several times we have almost landed the big
+fellow.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Out of the quiet purple shadow of the forest one evening there stepped
+the most stately buck I ever saw. His noble crest and carriage were
+superb. On a grassy hillside, some hundred and fifty yards away, he
+stood broadside on. With a rifle the merest tyro might have bowled him
+over. In fact, he looked just like the royal stag in the picture.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Two of us were together--a little underbrush shielded us. We drew our
+bows, loosed the arrows and off they flew. The flight of an arrow is a
+beautiful thing; it is grace, harmony, and perfect geometry all in one.
+They flew, and fell short. The deer only looked at them. We nocked
+again and shot. This time we dropped them just beneath his belly. He
+jumped forward a few paces and stopped to look at us. Slowly we reached
+for a third arrow, slowly nocked and drew it, and away it went,
+whispering in the air. One grazed his withers, the other pierced him
+through the loose skin of the brisket and flew past.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With an upward leap he soared away in the woods and we sent our
+blessing with him. His wound would heal readily, a mere scratch. We
+picked up our arrows and returned to camp to have bacon for supper,
+perfectly happy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+An arrow wound may be trivial, as was this one, or it may be
+surprisingly deadly, as brought out by an experience of Arthur Young.
+Once when stalking deer, the animal became alarmed and started to run
+away behind a screen of scrub oak. Young, perceiving that he was about
+to lose his quarry, shot at the indistinct moving body. Thinking that
+he had missed his shot, he searched for his arrow and found that it had
+plowed up the ground and buried its head deep in the earth. When he
+picked it up, he noted that it was strangely damp, but since he could
+not explain it, he dismissed the matter from his mind.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Next day, hunting over the same ground, he and Compton found the deer
+less than a hundred and fifty yards from this spot. It had run, fallen,
+bled, risen and fallen down hill, where it died of hemorrhage. Their
+inspection showed that the arrow had struck back of the shoulder, gone
+through the lungs and emerged beneath the jaw. With all this it had
+flown yards beyond, struck deeply in the earth, and was only a trifle
+damp.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Upon another occasion, while hunting cougars with a hound, I came
+abruptly upon a doe and a buck in a deep ravine. It was open season and
+we needed camp meat. Gauging my distance carefully, I shot at the buck,
+striking him in the flank. For the first time in my life, I heard an
+adult deer bleat. He gave an involuntary exclamation, whirled, but
+since he knew not the location or the nature of his danger, he did not
+run.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+My hound was working higher up in the canyon, but he heard the bleat,
+when like a wild beast he came charging through the undergrowth and
+hurled himself with terrific force upon the startled deer, bearing him
+to the ground. There was a fierce struggle for a brief moment in which
+the buck wrenched himself free from the dog's hold upon his throat and
+with an effort lunged down the slope and eluded us. Because of the many
+deer trails and because the hound was unused to following deer, night
+fell before we could locate him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Next day we found the dead buck, but the lions had left little meat on
+his bones--in fact, it seemed that a veritable den of these animals had
+feasted on him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The striking picture in my mind today is the fierceness and the savage
+onslaught of my dog. Never did I suspect that the amiable, gentle pet
+of our fireside could turn into such an overpowering, indomitable
+killer. His assault was absolutely bloodthirsty. I've often thought how
+grateful I should be that such an animal was my friend and companion in
+the hunt and not my pursuer. How quickly the dog adjusts himself to the
+bow! At first he is afraid of the long stick. But he soon gets the idea
+and not waiting for the detonation of the gun, he accepts the hum of
+the bowstring and the whirr of the arrow as signals for action. Some
+dogs have even shown a tendency to retrieve our arrows for us, and
+nothing suits them better than that we go on foot, and by their sides
+can run with them and with our silent shafts can lay low what they
+bring to bay. In fact, it is a perfect balance of power--the hound with
+his wondrous nose, lean flanks and tireless legs; the man with his
+human reason, the horn, and his bow and arrow.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We who have hunted thus, trod the forest trails, climbed the lofty
+peaks, breathed the magic air, and viewed the endless roll of mountain
+ridges, blue in the distance, have been blessed by the gods.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In all, we have shot about thirty deer with the bow. The majority of
+these fell before the shafts of Will Compton, while Young and I have
+contributed in a smaller measure to the count. Despite the vague
+regrets we always feel at slaying so beautiful an animal, there is an
+exultation about bringing into camp a haunch of venison, or hanging the
+deer on the limb of a sheltering tree, there to cool near the icy
+spring. By the glow of the campfire we broil savory loin steaks, and
+when done eating, we sit in the gloaming and watch the stars come out.
+Great Orion shines in all his glory, and the Hunters' Moon rises golden
+and full through the skies.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Drowsy with happiness, we nestle down in our sleeping bags, resting on
+a bed of fragrant boughs, and dream of the eternal chase.
+</p>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<h2><a name="xii">XII</a></h2>
+
+<h3>BEAR HUNTING</h3>
+
+<p>
+Killing bears with the bow and arrow is a very old pastime, in fact, it
+ranks next in antiquity to killing them with a club. However, it has
+faded so far into the dim realms of the past that it seems almost
+mythical.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The bear has stood for all that is dangerous and horrible for ages. No
+doubt, our ancestral experiences with the cave bears of Europe stamped
+the dread of these mighty beasts indelibly in our hearts. The American
+Indians in times gone past killed them with their primitive weapons,
+but even they have not done it lately, so it can be considered a lost
+art.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Yana's method of hunting bears has been described. Here they made
+an effort to shoot the beast in the open mouth. Ishi said that the
+blood thus choked and killed him. But after examining the bear skulls,
+it seems to me that a shot in the mouth is more likely to be fatal
+because the base of the brain is here covered with the thinnest layers
+of bone. Arrows can hardly penetrate the thick frontal bones of the
+skull, but up through the palate there would be no difficulty in
+entering the brain. At any rate, it is here that the Yana directed
+their shots. Apparently, from Ishi's description, it took quite a time
+to wear down and slay the animal.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+All Indians seem to have had a wholesome respect for the grizzly, the
+mighty brother of the mountains, and they gave him the right of way.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The black bear is, of course, the same animal whether brown or
+cinnamon, these color variations are simply brunette, blonde and auburn
+complexions, the essential anatomical and habit characteristics are
+identical.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The American black bear at one time ranged all over the United States
+and Canada. He has recently become a rare inhabitant of the eastern and
+more thickly populated districts; yet it is astonishing to hear that
+even in the year of 1920 some four hundred and sixty-five bears were
+taken in the State of Pennsylvania.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the western mountains he is to be met with quite frequently, but is
+not given to unprovoked attack, and with modern firearms an encounter
+with him is not fraught with great danger. He, or more properly, she
+will charge man with intent to kill upon certain rare occasions--when
+wounded, surprised, or when feeling that her young are in danger. But
+the bear, in company with all the other animals of the wilds, has
+learned to fear man since gunpowder was invented. Prior to this time,
+it felt the game was more equal, and seldom avoided a meeting, even
+courted it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bears are a mixture of the curious comedy traits with cunning and
+savage ferocity. In some of their lighter moods and pilfering habits,
+they add to the gayety of life.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While hunting in Wyoming one night, on coming to camp we discovered a
+young black bear robbing our larder. He had a ham bone in his jaws as
+we approached. Hastily nocking a blunt arrow on my bowstring, I let fly
+at sixty yards as he started to make his escape. I did not wish to
+kill, only admonish him. The arrow flew in a swift chiding stroke and
+smote him on his furry side with a dull thud. With a grunt and a bound,
+he dropped the bone and scampered off into the forest while the arrow
+rattled to the ground. His antics of surprise were most ludicrous. We
+sped him on his way with hilarious shouts; he never came again.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Upon a different occasion with another party, where the camp was
+bothered by the midnight foraging of a bear, our guide arranged to play
+a practical joke upon a certain "tenderfoot." Unknown to the victim, he
+tied a chunk of bacon to the corner of his sleeping bag with a piece of
+bale wire. In the middle of the night the camp was awakened by a
+pandemonium as the sleeping bag, man and all disappeared down the slope
+and landed in the creek bed below, where the determined bear, hanging
+on to the bacon, dragged the protesting tenderfoot. Here he abandoned
+his noisy burden and left the scene of excitement. No doubt, this goes
+down in the annals of both families as the most dramatic and stirring
+moment of life.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bear stories of this sort tend to give one the idea that these beasts
+can be petted and made trustworthy companions. In fact, certain
+sentimental devotees of nature foster the sentiment that wild animals
+need naught but kindness and loving thoughts to become the bosom friend
+of man. Such sophists would find that they had made a fatal mistake if
+they could carry out their theories. The old feud between man and beast
+still exists and will exist until all wild life is exterminated or is
+semi-domesticated in game preserves and refuges.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Even domestic cattle allowed to run wild are extremely dangerous. Their
+fear of man breeds their desperate assault when cornered.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The black bear has killed and will kill men when brought to bay or
+wounded or even when he feels himself cornered.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Although largely vegetarian, bear also capture and devour prey. Young
+deer, marmots, ground squirrels, sheep, and cattle are their diet. In
+certain districts great damage is done to flocks by bears that have
+become killers. In our hunts we have come across dead sheep, slain and
+partially devoured by black bears. All ranchers can tell of the
+depredations of these animals.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In Oregon and the northern part of California, there are many men who
+make it their business to trap or run bears with dogs to secure their
+hides and to sell their meat to the city markets. It is a hardy sport
+and none but the most stalwart and experienced can hope to succeed at
+it. In the late autumn and early winter the bears are fat and in prime
+condition for capture.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Having graduated from ground squirrels, quail and rabbits, and having
+laid low the noble deer, we who shoot the bow became presumptuous and
+wanted to kill bear with our weapons. So, learning of a certain
+admirable hunter up in Humboldt County by the name of Tom Murphy, we
+wrote to him with our proposal. He was taken with the idea of the bow
+and arrow and invited us to join him in some of his winter excursions.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In November, 1918, we arrived in the little village of Blocksburg, on
+the outskirts of which was Murphy's ranch. In normal times, Tom cuts
+wood, and raises cattle and grain for the market. In the winter months
+he hunts bear for profit and recreation. In the spring after his
+planting is done he also runs coyotes with dogs and makes a good income
+on bounties.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We found Murphy a quiet-spoken, intelligent man of forty-five years,
+married, and having two daughters. I was surprised to see such a
+redoubtable bear-slayer so modest and kindly. We liked him immediately.
+It is an interesting observation that all the notable hunters that have
+guided us on our trips have been rather shy, soft-spoken men who
+neither smoked nor drank.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Arthur Young and I constituted the archery brigade. We brought with us
+in the line of artillery two bows and some two dozen arrows apiece. We
+also brought our musical instruments. Not only do we shoot, but in camp
+we sit by the fire at night and play sweet harmonies till bedtime.
+Young is a finished violinist, and he has an instrument so cut down and
+abbreviated that with a short violin bow he can pack it in his bed
+roll. Its sound is very much like that of a violin played with a mute.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+My own instrument was an Italian mandolin with its body reduced to a
+box less than three inches square. It also is carried in a blanket roll
+and is known as the camp mosquito.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Young is a master at improvising second parts, double stopping, and
+obbligato accompaniments. So together we call all the sweet melodies
+out of the past and play on indefinitely by ear. In the glow of the
+camp-fire, out in the woods, this music has a peculiar plaintive appeal
+dear to our hearts.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With these charms we soon won the Murphy family and Tom was eager to
+see us shoot. He had heard that we shot deer, but he was rather
+skeptical that our arrows could do much damage to bear. So one of the
+first things he did after our arrival was to drag out an old dried hide
+and hang it on a fence in the corral and asked me to shoot an arrow
+through it. It was surely a test, for the old bear had been a tough
+customer and his hide was half an inch thick and as hard as sole
+leather.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But I drew up at thirty yards and let drive at the neck, the thickest
+portion. My arrow went through half its length and transfixed a paw
+that dangled behind. Tom opened his eyes and smiled. "That will do," he
+said, "if you can get into them that far, that's all you need. I'll
+take you out tomorrow morning, but I'll pack the old Winchester rifle
+just for the sake of the dogs."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The dogs were Tom's real asset, and his hobby. There were five of them.
+The two best, Baldy and Button, were Kentucky coon hounds in their
+prime, probably being descendants of the English fox hound with the
+admixture of harrier and bloodhound strains. Their breed has been in
+the family for thirty years. Tom took great pride in his pack, trained
+them to run nothing but bear and mountain lions, and never let anybody
+else touch them. When not hunting they are kept fastened by a sliding
+leash to a long heavy wire. Their diet was boiled cracked wheat and
+cracklings, raw apples, and bear meat. They never tasted deer meat or
+beef. I never saw more intelligent nor better conditioned hounds.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With the same stock he has hunted ever since he was a boy, and their
+lineage is more important than that of the Murphys. He has taken from
+ten to twenty bears every winter with these dogs for the past thirty
+years.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We were to stay right in Tom's house, and go by horseback to the bear
+grounds next morning. We had a supper which included bear steaks from a
+previous hunt, and doughnuts fried in bear grease, which they say is
+the best possible material for this culinary process, and later we
+greased our bows with bear grease, and our shoes with a mixture of bear
+fat and rosin. So we felt ready for bear.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then we spent a delightful evening with the family before the big
+fireplace, played our soft music, and all turned in for an early start
+in the morning.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At four o'clock Tom began stirring around, building the fire and
+feeding the horses. An hour later we breakfasted and were ready to
+start. Light snow had fallen in the hills and the air was chill; the
+moon was sinking in the valley mist. These early morning hours in the
+country are strange to us who live so far from nature.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We mount and are off. As we go the horses see the trail that we cannot
+discern, vague forms slip past, a skunk steals off before us, an owl
+flaps noiselessly past, overhanging brush sweeps our faces, the dogs
+leashed in couples trot ahead of us like spectres in procession.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Thus we journey for nearly ten miles in the darkness, going up out of
+the valley, on to the foothills, through Windy Gap, past Sheep Corral,
+over the divide, heading toward the Little Van Duzen River.
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<a href="images/181.jpg"><img src="images/181th.jpg" alt="TOM MURPHY WITH HIS TWO BEST DOGS, BUTTON AND BALDY, INDISPENSABLE IN GETTING BEARS"></a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+All the while the dogs amble along, sniffing here and there at obscure
+scents, now loitering to investigate a moment, now standing and looking
+off into the dark. Tom knows by their actions what they think. "That's
+a coyote's trail," he says, "they've just crossed a deer scent, but
+they won't pay much attention to that." Their demeanor is
+self-possessed and un-excited.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At last, just before dawn, we arrive on a pine-covered hillside and the
+dogs become more eager. This is the bear country. They cross the canyon
+here to get to the forest of young oak trees, beyond where the autumn
+crop of acorns lies ready to fatten them for their long winter sleep.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Here is a bear tree, a small pine or fir, stripped of limbs and bark,
+against which countless bears have scratched themselves.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Tom looses the dogs and sends them ranging to pick up a scent. They
+take to it with eagerness, and soon we hear the boom of the hounds on a
+cold track. Tom gets interested, but shakes his head. Last night's
+snowfall and later drizzle have spoiled the ground for good tracking.
+We dismount, tie our horses and follow the general direction of the
+pack. They must be kept within earshot so that when they strike a hot
+track we can keep up with them. If there is much wind and the forest
+noises are loud, Tom will not run his dogs for fear of losing them.
+Once on the trail of a bear, they never quit, but will leave the
+country rather than give him up.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Expectation, stimulated by the distant baying of the running hounds,
+the cold gray shadows of the woods, and the knowledge that any moment a
+bear may come crashing through the undergrowth right where we stand,
+tends to hold one in a state of exquisite suspense--not fear, just
+chilly suspense. In fact, I was rather glad to see the sun rise.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But nothing came of this hunt. We worked over the creek bottom below,
+rode over adjacent hills and canyons, struck cold trails here and there
+to assure us that bear really existed, then at about ten o'clock Murphy
+decided that weather conditions of the night before, combined with the
+dissipating effect of sunshine and the lateness of the hour, all
+dictated that we had best give up the game for that day.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So back we rode, the dogs a trifle footsore, for they had covered many
+a mile in their ranging. Tom had shoes for them to wear when they are
+very lame at the first of the season. Later on, their feet become tough
+and need no protection. So we arrived back at the ranch empty-handed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Next day we rested, and rain fell.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The day following we again tried a hunt and again failed to strike a
+hot track. Tom was perplexed, for it was a rare thing for him to return
+home without a bear. He rather suspected that the bows were a "jinx"
+and brought bad luck. So again we rested the dogs and waited for a
+change of fortune.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The time between hunts Young and I spent shooting rabbits. Once when
+down on the stream bank looking for trout, Young saw a female duck
+diving beneath the surface of the water. As it rose he shot it with an
+arrow and nocking a second shaft, he prepared to deliver a finishing
+blow if necessary, when up the stream he heard the whirring wings of a
+flying duck; instantly he drew his bow, glanced to the left, and shot
+at the rapidly approaching male. Pinioned through the wings, it dropped
+near the first victim and he gathered the two as a tidbit for supper.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+These things do happen between our larger adventures, and delight us
+greatly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The evenings we spent before the fire, played music, and I performed
+sleights of hand, much to the wonderment of the rural audience that
+gathered to see the strangers who expected to kill bears with bows and
+arrows. After numerous coin tricks, card passes, mysterious
+disappearances, productions of wearing apparel and cabbages from a hat,
+and many other incredible feats of prestidigitation, they were almost
+ready to believe we might slay bears with our bows.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Tom's dogs having recovered from our previous unsuccessful trips, we
+started again one crisp frosty morning with the stars all aglitter
+overhead. This time we were sure of good luck. Mrs. Murphy was positive
+we would bring home a bear; she felt it in her bones.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is cold riding this time in the morning, but it is beautiful. The
+snow-laden limbs of the firs drop their loads upon us as we pass, the
+twigs are whip-like in their recoil as they strike our legs; the horses
+pick their way with surefooted precision, and we wonder what adventures
+wait for us in the silent gloom.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This time we rode far. If bears were to be had any place, they could be
+found in Panther Canyon, below Mt. Lassie.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+By sunrise we reached the ridge back of the desired spot where we tied
+our horses preparatory to climbing up the gulch. The dogs were made
+ready; there were only three of them this time: Button, Baldy, and old
+Buck, the shepherd dog. Immediately they struck a cold trail and danced
+around in a circle, baying with long deep bell tones, pleading to be
+released. My breath quivers at the memory of them. Murphy unclasped the
+chains that linked them together and they scampered up the precipitous
+ravine before us. As they passed, Tom pointed out bear tracks, the
+first we had seen.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In less than ten minutes the full-throated bay of the hounds told us
+that they had struck a hot track and routed the bear from his temporary
+den.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+That was the signal for speed, and we began a desperate race up the
+side of the mountain. Nothing but perfect physical health can stand
+such a strain. One who is not in athletic training will either fail
+completely in the test or do his heart irreparable damage.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But we were fit; we had trained for the part. Stripped for action, we
+were dressed in hunting breeches, light high-topped shoes spiked on the
+soles, in light cotton shirts, and carried only our bows, quivers of
+arrows, and hunting knives. Tom was a seasoned mountain climber, born
+on the crags, and had knees like a goat. So we ran. Up the side and
+over the crest we sped. The bay of the hounds pealed out with every
+bound ahead of us. As we crossed the ridge, we heard them down the
+canyon below us, the crashing of the bear and the cry of the dogs
+thrilled us with a very old and a very strong flood of emotions.
+Panting and flushed with effort we rushed onward; legs, legs, and more
+air, 'twas all we wanted. Tom is tough and used to altitudes, Young is
+stronger and more youthful than I am, and besides a flapping quiver, an
+unwieldy bow, my camera banged me unmercifully on the back. Still I
+kept up very well, and my early sprinting on the cinder track came to
+my aid. We stuck together, but just as I had about decided that running
+was a physical impossibility, Tom shouted, "He is treed." That was a
+welcome word. We slackened our pace, knowing that the dogs would hold
+him till we arrived, and we needed our breath for the next act. So on a
+trot we came over a rise of ground and saw, away up on the limb of a
+tall straight fir tree, a bear that looked very formidable and large.
+The golden rays of the rising sun were shining through his fur.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+That was the first bear I had ever seen in the open, first wild bear,
+first bear with no iron bars between him and me. I felt peculiar.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The dogs were gathered beneath the tree keeping up a chorus of yelps
+and assaulting its base as if to tear it to pieces. The bear apparently
+had no intention of coming down.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Tom had instructed us fully what to do; so we now helped him catch his
+dogs and tie them with a rope which he held. He did this because he
+knew that if we wounded the bear and he descended there was going to be
+a fight, and he didn't want to lose his valuable dogs in an experiment.
+He had his gun to take care of himself, and Young and I were supposed
+to stand our share of the adventure as best we could.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Keen with anticipation of unexpected surprises; wondering, yet willing
+to take a chance, we prepared to shoot our first bear. We stationed
+ourselves some thirty yards from the base of the tree. The bear was
+about seventy-five feet up in the air, facing us, looking down and
+exposing his chest.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We drew our arrows together and a second later released as one man.
+Away flew the two shafts, side by side, and struck the beast in the
+breast, not six inches apart. Like a flash, they melted into his body
+and disappeared forever. He whirled, turned backward, and began sliding
+down the tree.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Ripping and tearing the trunk, he descended almost as if falling, a
+shower of bark preceding him like a cartload of shingles. Tom shouted,
+"You missed him, run up close and shoot him again!" From his side of
+the tree he couldn't see that our arrows had hit and gone through, also
+he was used to seeing bear drop when he hit them with a bullet.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But we were a little diffident about running up close to a wounded
+bear, for Tom had told us it would fight when it got down.
+Nevertheless, we nocked an arrow again, and just as he reached the
+ground we were close by to receive him. We delivered two glancing blows
+on his rapidly falling body. When he landed, however, he selected the
+lower side of the tree, away from us, and bounded off down the canyon.
+We protested that we had hit him and begged Tom to turn his dogs loose.
+After a moment's deliberation, Tom let old Buck go and off he tore in
+hot pursuit. The shepherd was a wily old cattle dog and would keep out
+of harm.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Soon we heard him barking and Murphy exclaimed incredulously, "He's
+treed again!" Button and Baldy were unleashed and once more we started
+our cross-country running. Through maple thickets, over rocky sides,
+down the wooded canyon we galloped. Much sooner than we expected, we
+came to our bear. Hard pressed, he had climbed a small oak and crouched
+out on a swaying limb. We could see that he was heaving badly, and was
+a very sick animal. His gaze was fixed on the howling dogs. Young and I
+ran in close and shot boldly at his swaying body. Our arrows slipped
+through him like magic. One was arrested in its course as it buried
+itself in his shoulder. Savagely he snapped it in two with his teeth,
+when another driven by Young with terrific force struck him above the
+eye. He weakened his hold, slipped backward, dropped from the bending
+limb and rolled over and over down the ravine. The dogs were on him in
+a rush, and wooled him with a vengeance. But he was dead by the time he
+reached the creek bottom. We clambered down, looked him over with awe,
+then Young and I shook hands across the body of our first bear. We took
+his picture.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Tom opened up the chest and abdominal cavity, explored the wounds and
+was full of exclamations of surprise at the damage done by our arrows.
+He agreed that our animal was mortally wounded with our first two
+shots, and had we let him alone there would have been no necessity for
+more arrows. But this being our very first bear, we had overdone the
+killing.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So he gave the liver and lungs to the waiting hounds as a reward for
+their efforts, and cleaned the carcass for carrying. We found the
+stomach full of acorn mush, just as clean and sweet as a mess of
+cornmeal.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Murphy left us to pack the bear up on the pine flat above, while he
+went around three or four miles to get the horses. After a strenuous
+half hour, we got our bear up the steep bank and rested on the flat.
+Here we ate our pocket lunch.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As we sat there quietly eating, we heard a rustle in the woods below
+us, and looking up, saw another good-sized black bear about forty yards
+off. I had one arrow left in my quiver, Young only two broken shafts,
+the rest we had lost in our final scramble. So we passed no insulting
+remarks to the bear below, who suddenly finding our presence, vanished
+in the forest. We had had enough bear for one day, anyhow.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Tom came with the horses, and loaded our trophy on one. Ordinarily a
+horse is greatly frightened at bears, and difficult to manage, but
+these were long ago accustomed to the business. It interested us to see
+the method of tying the carcass securely on a common saddle. By placing
+a clove hitch on the wrists and ankles and cinching these beneath the
+horse's belly with a sling rope through the bear's crotch and around
+its neck, the body was held suspended across the saddle and rode easily
+without shifting until we reached home.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Adult black bear range in weight from one hundred to five hundred
+pounds. Ours, although he had looked very formidable up the tree, was
+really not a very large animal and not fully grown. After cleaning, it
+tipped the scales at a little below two hundred pounds. But it was
+large enough for our purposes, and we couldn't wait for it to grow any
+heavier. It was no fault of ours that it was only some three or four
+years old. We felt that even had it been one of those huge old boys, we
+would have conquered him just the same. In fact, we had begun to count
+ourselves among the intrepid bear slayers of the world. So we returned
+to the ranch in triumph.
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<a href="images/190.jpg"><img src="images/190th.jpg" alt="YOUNG AND I ARE VERY PROUD OF OUR MAIDEN BEAR"></a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Next day we took our departure from Blocksburg and bade the Murphys an
+affectionate farewell. The bear we carried with us wrapped in canvas to
+distribute in luscious steaks to our friends in the city. The beautiful
+silky pelt now rests on the parlor floor of Young's home with a
+ferocious wide open mouth waiting to scare little children, or trip up
+the unwary visitor.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Since this, our maiden bear, we have had various other encounters with
+bruin. Once while hunting mountain lions, we came upon the body of an
+angora goat recently killed by a bear. The ground was covered with his
+ungainly footprints. We set the dogs on the scent and off they went,
+booming in hot pursuit. Running like wild Indians, Young and I followed
+by ear, bows ready strung and quivers held tightly to our sides. In
+less than ten minutes, we burst into a little open glade in the forest
+and saw up in a large madrone tree, a good-sized cinnamon bear
+fretfully eyeing the dogs below.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We had lost our apprehension concerning the outcome of an encounter
+with bears, so we coolly prepared to settle his fate. In fact, we even
+discussed the problem whether or not we should kill him. We were not
+after bears, but lions. This fellow, however, was a rogue, a killer of
+sheep and goats. He had repeatedly thrown our dogs off the track with
+his pungent scent and we were strictly within our hunting rights if we
+wanted him. We therefore drew our broadheads to the barb and drove two
+wicked shafts deep into his front. As if knocked backwards, the bear
+reared and threw himself down the slanting tree trunk. As he reached
+the ground, one of our dogs seized him by the hind leg and the two went
+flying past us within a couple of yards, the dog hanging on like grim
+death. Furiously, the other dogs followed and we leaped to the chase.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This time the course of the bear was marked by a swath of broken brush.
+It dashed headlong through the forest regardless of obstruction. Small
+trees in his way meant nothing to him; he ran over them, or if old and
+brittle, smashed them down. Into the densest portion of the woods he
+made his way. Not more than three hundred yards from the spot he
+started, he treed again. In an almost impenetrable thicket of small
+cedars, the dogs sent up their chorus of barks. I dashed in, fighting
+my way free from restraining limbs, the bow and quiver holding me again
+and again. Young got stuck and fell behind, so that I came alone upon
+our bear at bay. He had mounted but a short distance up a mighty oak
+and hung by his claws to the bark. I had run beneath him before seeing
+his position. Instantly I recognized the danger of the situation and
+backed off, away from the tree, at the same time nocking an arrow on
+the string. I glanced about for Young, but he was detained, so I drew
+the head and discharged my arrow right into the heart region of our
+beast, where it buried its point. Loosening his hold, the bear fell
+backward from the tree and landed on the nape of his neck. He was weak
+with mortal wounds, and even had he wanted to charge me, the combat
+could not have progressed far. But instantly the dogs were on him.
+Seizing him by the front and back legs, they dragged him around a small
+tree, holding him firmly in spite of his struggles, while he bawled
+like a lost calf. The din was terrific; snarling, snapping dogs, the
+crashing underbrush, and the bellowing of bear made the world hideous.
+It seemed that the pain of our arrows was nothing to him compared to
+his fear of the dogs, and when he felt himself helpless in their power,
+his morale was completely shattered.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was soon over; hardly a minute elapsed before his resistless form
+lay still, and even the dogs knew he was dead. Poor Young arrived at
+this moment, having just extricated himself from the brush.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We skinned the pelt to make quivers, took his claws for decorations,
+and cut some sweet bear steaks from his hams; the rest we gave to the
+pack.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It seems a very proper thing that the service of the dogs should always
+be recognized promptly, that they be given their share of the spoils
+and that they be praised for their courage and fidelity. This makes
+them better hunters. Stupid men who drive off their dogs from the
+quarry, defer their rewards, and grudge them praise, kill the spirit of
+the chase within them and spoil them for work.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Hounds have the finest hunting spirit of any animal. The team work of
+the wolf and their intelligent use of strategy is one of the most
+striking evidences of community interests in animal life.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The fellowship between us and our dogs is a most satisfactory relation.
+Since prehistoric times, the hunter has taken advantage of the
+comradeship and on it rests the mutual dependence and trust of the two.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Altogether, bringing bears to bay is among the most thrilling
+experiences of life. It is a primitive sport and as such it stirs up in
+the human breast the primordial emotions of men. The sense of danger,
+the bodily exhaustion, the ancestral blood lust, the harkening bay of
+the hounds, the awe of deep-shadowed forests, and the return to an
+almost hand-to-claw contest with the beast, call upon a latent manhood
+that is fast disappearing in the process of civilization.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I hope there always will be bears to hunt and youthful adventurers to
+chase them.
+</p>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<h2><a name="xiii">XIII</a></h2>
+
+<h3>MOUNTAIN LIONS</h3>
+
+<p>
+The cougar, panther, or mountain lion is our largest representative of
+the cat family. Early settlers in the Eastern States record the
+existence of this treacherous beast in their conquest of the forests.
+The cry of the "painter," as he was called, rang through the dark woods
+and caused many hearts to quaver and little children to run to mother's
+side. Once in a while stories came of human beings having met their
+doom at the swift stealthy leap of this dreaded beast. He was bolder
+then than now. Today he is not less courageous, but more cautious. He
+has learned the increased power of man's weapons.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Our Indians knew that he would strike, as they struck, without warning
+and at an advantage. It is a matter of tradition among frontiersmen
+that he has upon rare occasions attacked and killed bears. Even today
+he will attack man if provoked by hunger, and can do so with some
+assurance of success, the statements of certain naturalists to the
+contrary notwithstanding.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+John Capen Adams, in his adventures,
+[Footnote: <i>The Adventures of James Capen Adams of California</i>, by
+Theodore H. Hittell.]
+describes such an episode. The lion in this instance sprang upon a
+companion, seized him by the back of the neck, and bore him to the
+ground. He was only saved from death by a thick buckskin collar to his
+coat and the ready assistance of Adams who heard the cry for help.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I know of an instance where a California lion leaped upon some bathing
+children and attempted to kill them, but was driven off by the heroic
+efforts of a young woman school teacher, who in turn died of her
+wounds.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Those of us who have roamed the wilds of the western country have had
+varying experiences with this animal, while others have lived their
+lives in districts undoubtedly infested with cougars and have never
+seen one, although nearly every mountain rancher has heard that
+hair-raising, almost human scream echo down the canyon. It is like the
+wail of a woman in pain. Penetrating and quavering, it rings out on the
+night gloom, and brings to the human what it must, in a similar way,
+bring to the lesser animals a sense of impending attack, a death
+warning. It is part of the system of the predatory beast that he uses
+fear to weaken the powers of his prey before he assaults it. Animal
+psychology is essentially utilitarian. Cowering, trembling, muscularly
+relaxed, on the verge of emotional shock, we are easier to overcome.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The cougar lives principally on deer. His kill averages more than one a
+week, and often we may find evidence that this murderer has wantonly
+slain two or three deer in a single night's expedition.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is not his habit to lie in wait on the limb of a tree, though he
+often sleeps there; but he makes a stealthy approach on the
+unsuspecting victim, then, with a series of stupendous bounds, he
+throws himself upon the deer, and by his momentum bears it to the
+ground. Here, while he holds on with teeth and forelegs, he rips open
+the flank with his hind claws and immediately plunges his head into the
+open abdomen, where he tears the great blood vessels with his teeth and
+drinks its life blood.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+These are facts learned from lion hunters whose observations are
+accurate and reliable. A lion can jump a distance greater than
+twenty-four feet, and has been seen to ascend at a single leap a cliff
+of rock eighteen feet high.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Their weight runs from one hundred to two hundred pounds, and the
+length from six to nine feet. The skin will stretch farther than this,
+but we count only the carcass from the tip of the nose to the tip of
+the extended tail. The speed of a lion for a short distance is greater
+than that of a greyhound, less than five seconds to the hundred yards.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Some observers contend that the lion never gives that blood-curdling
+cry assigned to him. They say he is silent, and that this classic
+scream is made by a lynx in the mating period. However, popular
+experience to the contrary seems to be too strong and counterbalances
+this iconoclastic opinion.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For many years, off and on, we have hunted lions, but sad to say, we
+have done more hunting than finding. They are a very wary creature.
+Practically, one never sees them unless hunting with dogs; they may be
+in the brush within thirty yards, but the human eye will fail to
+discern them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Our camps have been robbed by lions, our horses killed by them, cattle
+and sheep ruthlessly murdered; lion tracks have been all about, and yet
+unless trapped or treed by dogs, we have never met.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Camping at the base of Pico Blanco, in Monterey County, several years
+ago, a lion was seen to bound across the road and follow a small band
+of deer. At this very spot a few seasons before one leaped upon an old
+mare with foal and broke her neck as she crashed through the fence and
+rolled down the hill. Three years later I rode the young horse. As we
+passed the tree from which it is thought the lion sprang, where the
+broken fence was still unmended, my colt jumped and reared, the memory
+of his fright was still vivid in his mind. Up the trail a half mile
+beyond we saw other fresh lion tracks. At night we camped on the ridge
+with our dogs in hope that our feline friend would come again.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was too late to hunt that evening, so we turned in. Nothing happened
+save that in the middle of the night I was roused by the whine of our
+dogs, and looking up in the face of the pale moon, I saw two deer go
+bounding past, silhouetted like graceful phantoms across the silvered
+sky. They swept across the lunar disc and melted into blackness over
+the dark horizon.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+No sound followed them, and having appeased the fretful hounds, we
+returned to sleep. In the morning, up the trail, there were his tracks;
+too wise to cross the human scent, and knowing that there are more deer
+in the brush, he had turned upon his course and let his quarry slip.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Because of the heat and the inferior tracking capacity of our dogs, we
+never got this panther. A lion dog is a specialist and must be so
+trained that no other track will divert him from his quest. These dogs
+were willing, but erratic.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The best dogs for this work are mongrels. By far the finest lion dog I
+ever saw was a cross between a shepherd and an airedale. He had the
+intelligence of the former and the courage of the latter. The airedale
+himself is not a good trailer, he is too temperamental. He will start
+on a lion track, jump off and chase a deer and wind up by digging out a
+ground squirrel. After a good hound finds a lion, the airedale will
+tackle him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We once started an airedale on a lion track, followed him at a fiendish
+pace, dashed down the side of a mountain, and found that he had an
+angora goat up a tree.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This cougar on Pico Blanco still roams the forests, so far as I know,
+and many with him. Once we saw him across a canyon. He appeared as a
+tawny slow-moving body as large as a deer but low to the earth and
+trailing a listless tail, while his head slowly swung from side to
+side. He seemed to be looking for something on the ground. For the
+space of a hundred yards we watched him traverse an open side hill,
+deep in ferns and brakes. Seeing him thus was little satisfaction to
+us, for we had lost our dogs. Ferguson and I were returning from one of
+our unsuccessful expeditions.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We started with two saddle horses, a pack animal, and five good lion
+dogs. On the trail to the Ventana Mountains we came across lion tracks
+and followed them for a day, then lost them; but we knew that a large
+male and young female were ranging over the country. Their circuit
+extended over a radius of ten miles; they are great travelers.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The track of a lion is characteristic. The general contour is round,
+from three to four inches in diameter. There are four toe prints
+arranged in a semicircle which show no claw marks. But the ball of the
+foot is the unmistakable feature. It consists of three distinct
+eminences or pads which lie parallel, antero-posteriorly, and appear in
+the track as if you had pressed the terminal phalanges of your fingers
+side by side in the dust. These marks are nearly equal in length and
+absolutely identify the big cat.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On the morning of the second day of our trailing this lion, our pack
+was working down in the thick brush below the crest of Rattlesnake
+Ridge, when suddenly they raised a chorus of yelps. There was a rush of
+bodies in the chamise brush, and the chase was on at a furious pace. We
+rode up to an observation point and saw the dogs speeding down the
+canyon side, close on the heels of a yellow leaping demon. They
+switched from side to side, as cat and dog races have been carried on
+since time immemorial.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The undergrowth was so dense we could not follow, so we sat our horses
+and waited for them to tree. But further and further they descended.
+They crossed the bottom, mounted a cliff on the opposite side, came
+scrambling down from this and plunged into the bed of the stream, where
+their voices were lost to hearing.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We rode around to a spur of the hill that dipped into the brush and
+overhung the canyon. From this we heard occasional barks away down at
+least a mile below us. It was a difficult situation. Nothing but a
+bluejay could possibly get down to the creek below. I never saw such a
+jungle! So we waited for the indications that the lion was treed, but
+all became silent.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Evening approached, we ate our supper and then sat on the hill above,
+sounding our horns. Their vibrant echoes rang from mountain to mountain
+and returned to us clear and sweet.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Way down below us, where a purple haze hung over the deep ravine, we
+faintly heard the answering hounds. In their voices we caught the dog's
+response to his master and friend. It said, "We have him. Come! Come!"
+We blew the horns again. The elf-land notes returned again and again,
+and with them came the call of the faithful hound, "We are here. Come!
+Come!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now, there was a pitiful plight. No sane man would venture down such a
+chasm, impenetrable with thorns, and night descending. So we built a
+beacon fire and waited for dawn. All during the long dark hours we
+heard the distant appeal of the hounds, and we slept little.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At the first rays of dawn we took a hasty meal, fed our horses, and
+stripping ourselves of every unnecessary accoutrement, we prepared to
+descend the canyon. Our bows and quivers we left behind because it
+would have been impossible to drag them through the jungle. Ferguson
+carried only his Colt pistol; I took my hunting knife.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Having surveyed the topography carefully, we attacked the problem at
+its most available angle and slid from view. We literally dived beneath
+the brush. For more than two hours we wormed our way down the face of
+the mountain, crawling like moles at the base of the overhanging
+thickets of poison oak, wild lilac, chamise, sage, manzanita, hazel and
+buckthorn. At last we reached the depth of the canyon and, finding a
+little water, we bathed our sweat-grimed faces and cooled off.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+No sound of the dogs was heard, but pressing forward we followed the
+boulder-strewn bottom of the creek for a mile or more, almost
+despairing of ever finding them, when suddenly we came upon a strange
+sight. There was the pack in a circle about a big reclining oak. They
+were voiceless and utterly exhausted, but sat watching a huge lion
+crouched on a great overhanging limb of the tree. The moment we
+appeared they raised a feeble, hoarse yelp of delight. The panther
+turned his head, saw us, sprang from the tree with a prodigious bound,
+landed on the side hill, tore down the canyon, and leaped over a
+precipice below.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The dogs, heartened by our presence, with instant accord charged after
+the lion. When they came to the precipitous drop in the bed of the
+stream, they whined a second, ran back and forth, then mounted the
+lateral wall, circled sidewise and, by a detour, gained the ground
+below. We ran and looked over. The drop was at least thirty feet. The
+cat had taken it without hesitation, but we were absolutely stalled.
+Even if we had cared to take the risk of the descent, we saw so many
+similar drops beyond that the situation was hopeless. The dogs having
+lost their voices, we were at a great disadvantage. So we returned to
+the tree to rest and meditate.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There we saw the evidence of the long vigil of the night. All about its
+base were little nests, where the tired dogs had bedded down and kept
+their weary watch. Their incessant barking had served to keep the
+cougar treed, but it cost them a temporary loss of voice. Poor devils,
+they had our admiration and sympathy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At noon, hearing nothing from the hounds, we decided to return to camp.
+If coming down was hard, going up was herculean. We crawled on hands
+and knees, dragged ourselves by projecting roots, panted, rested, and
+worked again. After a three-hours' struggle we came out upon a rough
+ledge of granite, a mile below the spot at which we aimed, but near
+enough to the top to permit us, after a little more brush fighting, to
+gain our camp and lie down, too fatigued to eat.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For another day we remained at this place, hoping that the dogs would
+return, but in vain. At last we decided to pack up and go around a
+ten-mile detour and work up the outlet of the canyon. We left a mess of
+food in several piles for the dogs should they return, and knew they
+could follow our horses' tracks if they came to camp.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But our detour was futile. We lost all signs of our pack and returned
+to our headquarters to await results.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was on this homeward journey that we saw the lion of Pico Blanco,
+and had to let him slip.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Ten days later, two weak, emaciated hounds came into camp, an old
+veteran and a young dog that trailed after him as if tied with a rope.
+He had followed him to save his life, and for days after he could not
+be separated without whining with fear.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We fed them carefully and nursed them back to health. But these were
+all of the five to appear. Old Belle, the greatest fighter of them all,
+was gone. She must have met her death at the claws of the cougar, for
+nothing else could keep her. This ended that particular lion hunt.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In our travels over California in search for cougars, we have picked up
+more tales than trails of the big cats.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Just before one of my visits to Gorda, on the Monterey Coast, a panther
+visited the Mansfield ranch in broad daylight. Jasper being up on the
+mountainside after deer, his wife, left at home with the two little
+children, noticed a very large lion out in the pasture back of the
+house. It wandered among the cattle in a most unconcerned manner and
+did not even cause a stir. While it did not approach any of the cows
+very closely, they seemed to be not in the least alarmed. For half an
+hour or more it stayed in the neighborhood of the house, where Mrs.
+Mansfield locked herself in and waited for her husband's return. It was
+not until evening, and too late to track the beast, that Jasper came
+home. So no capture was made.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Some time before this, one of the hired hands on the ranch was going to
+his cabin in the dusk; and swinging his hand idly to catch the tops of
+tall grass by the side of the path, he suddenly touched something warm
+and soft. Instantly he grasped a handful of the substance. At the same
+moment some sort of an animal bounded off in the dark. Holding fast to
+the material in his hand, he ran back to the farmhouse and found his
+fist full of lion hair. To say that he was startled, puts it very
+mildly. Apparently one of these beasts had been crouched on a log by
+the side of his path, waiting for something to turn up. The hired man
+took a lantern home with him after that.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At another ranch on the Big Sur River, one of the little boys called to
+his mother that there was a funny sort of a "big dog" out in the
+pasture. His mother paid no attention to it, but a diminutive pet black
+and tan started an assault on the animal in question. The lion and the
+dog disappeared in the brush. Presently the canine barking ceased and
+the small boy wondered what had become of his valiant companion. In a
+few minutes he heard a plaintive whine up in a near-by tree, and
+running to its base he found that the panther had seized his pet by the
+nape of the neck and climbed a tall fir with him. The boy ran for his
+father, working in the fields, who, bringing his rifle, dispatched the
+panther. As it fell from the tree, the little dog clung to the upper
+limbs, and stayed at the top. Nothing they could do would coax him
+down. The fir was one difficult to climb, so to save time the man took
+an ax and felled the tree, which, falling gently against another,
+precipitated the canine hero to the ground without harm. Later I had
+the pleasure of shaking his paw and congratulating him on his bravery.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After many futile attempts, at last our opportunity to get a <i>Felis
+Concolor</i> arrived. We received word from a certain ranger station in
+Tuolumne County that a mountain lion was killing sheep and deer in the
+immediate vicinity, and having the promise of a well trained pack,
+Arthur Young and I gathered our archery tackle and started from San
+Francisco at night in an automobile. We traveled until the small hours
+of the morning, then lay down on the side of the road to take a short
+sleep; and rising at the first gray of dawn, sped on our way.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We reached the Sierras by sun-up and began to climb. At noon we met our
+guide above Italian Bar, and prepared for an evening hunt. This,
+however, was as unsatisfactory as evening hunts usually are.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A morning expedition the next day only brought out the fact that our
+lion had left the country. News of his activities twelve miles further
+up the mountains having been obtained, we gathered our bows, arrows,
+and dogs and departed for this region. Here we found a bloody record of
+his work. More than two hundred goats had been killed by the big cat in
+the past year. In fact, the rancher thought that several panthers were
+at work. Goats were taken from beneath the shepherd's nose, and as he
+turned in one direction, another goat would be killed behind him. It
+seemed impossible to apprehend the villain; their dogs were useless.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Equipped for rough camping, we soon planned our morning excursion and
+bedded down for rest.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At 3 o'clock we waked, ate a meager breakfast, and hit the trail up the
+mountain. We knew the general range of our cougar. It is necessary in
+all his tracking to get in the field while the dew is on the ground and
+before the sun dissipates it, also before the goats obliterate the
+tracks.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Arrived at the crest of the ridge, we struck a well-defined goat trail,
+and soon the fresh tracks of a lion were discovered. Our dogs took up
+the scent at once and we began to travel at a rapid pace.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Here again, one must have a good pair of legs. If automobiles,
+elevators, and general laziness have not ruined your powers of
+locomotion, you may follow the dogs; otherwise, you had best stay at
+home.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At first we walk, then we trot, and when with a leap the hounds start
+in full cry, we race. Regardless of five thousand feet of altitude,
+regardless of brush, rocks, and dizzy cliffs, we follow at a breakneck
+pace. I don't know where our breath comes from in these trials. We just
+have to run; in fact, we have planned to run on our hands when our legs
+play out. With pounding hearts we surge ahead. "Keep the dogs within
+hearing!" "It can't last long!" But this time we come to a sudden halt
+on a rocky slide. We've lost the scent. The dogs circle and backtrack
+and work with feverish haste. The sun has risen, and up the mountain
+side comes a band of goats led by a single shepherd dog--no man in
+sight. We shout to the dog to steer his rabble away, but on they come,
+and obliterate our trail with a thousand hoofprints and a cloud of
+dust.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The sun then comes out, and our day is done. No felis this time.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So we scout the country for information to be used later, and return to
+camp to drown our sorrow in food.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This was my first knowledge that a dog could be placed in charge of a
+flock of sheep or goats. It seems that these little sheep dogs, not
+even collies, but some shaggy little plebeians, are given full charge
+of the band. They lead them out to pasture, guard them, and keep them
+together during the day and bring them home at night. They will, when
+properly instructed, take a band of goats out for a week on a long
+route, and bring them all safely home again. At least, they used to do
+this until the lion appeared on the scene.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+That evening we asked the rancher to lock his goats in the corral till
+noon.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Next morning we rose again in time to see the morning star glitter with
+undimmed glory. Up the trail we mounted, the dogs eager for the chase.
+An old owl in a hollow tree asked us again and again who we were; all
+else was silent in the woods.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Saving our strength, we arrived quietly on the upper ridges and waited
+for the dawn. Way down below us in the canyon we could smell the faint
+incense of our camp-fire. The morning breeze was just beginning to
+breathe in the trees. The birds awoke with little whispered
+confidences, small twitterings and chirps. A faint lavender tint melted
+the stars in the eastern sky. Shadows crept beneath the trees, and we
+knew it was time to start.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Just as the light defined the margins of the trail, we picked up in the
+grayness the track of a lion. Strange to say, the dogs had not smelled
+it, but when we pointed to the footprint in the dust, which was
+apparently none too fresh, they took up the work of tracking. It is
+astonishing to see how a dog can tell which way a track leads. If in
+doubt, he runs quickly back and forth on the scent, and thus gauges the
+way the animal has progressed. A mediocre dog cannot do this, but we
+had dogs with college educations.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Traveling carefully and at a moderate pace, we came to an open knoll in
+the forest. Here in the ferns our pack circled about us as if the cat
+had been doing a circus stunt, and they seemed confused. Later on we
+found that our feline friend had been experimenting with a porcupine
+and learned another lesson in natural history.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Suddenly the leader sniffed at a fallen tree where, doubtless, the cat
+had perched, then with a ringing bay, the hound clamped his tail close
+to his rump and left in a streak of yellow light. The rest of the pack
+leaped into full cry.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We were off on a hot track. Oh, for the wings of a bird! Trained as
+Young and I were to desperate running, this game taxed us to the
+utmost. First we climbed the knoll, deep in ferns and mountain misery,
+then we dashed over the crest, tore through manzanita brush, thickets
+of young cedar and buckthorn, over ledges of lava rock, down deep
+declivities, among giant oaks, cedars, and pines. As we ran we grasped
+our ready strung bows in one hand and the flapping quivers in the
+other.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+You would not think that at this time we could take note of the
+fragrant shrubs and pine needles beneath our feet, but I smelled them
+as we passed in flight, and they revived me to renewed energy. On we
+rushed, only to lose the sound of the dogs. Then we listened and caught
+it down the hill below us. Again we hurdled barriers of brush, took
+long sliding leaps down the treacherous shale and ran breathless to the
+shade of a great oak.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There above our heads was the lion. Oh, the beauty of that beast!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Heaving and giddy with exertion, we saw a wonderful sight, a great
+tawny, buff-colored body crouched on a limb, grace and power in every
+outline. A huge, soft cylindrical tail swung slowly back and forth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Luminous eyes gazed at us in utmost calm, a cold calculating calm. He
+watched and waited our next move, waited with his great muscles tense
+for action.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We retreated, not only to get out of his reach, but to gain a better
+shooting position. As we did this, he gave a lithe leap to a higher
+limb and shielded himself as best he could behind the boughs of the
+tree.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From our position, his chest and throat were visible through a
+triangular space in the branches, not more than a foot across. We must
+shoot through this. His attitude was so huddled that his head hung over
+his shoulder.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Young and I caught our breath, drew our arrows from their quivers,
+nocked them, and set ourselves in the archer's "stable stand." We drew
+together and, at a mutual thought, shot together. Because of our
+unsteady condition the arrows flew a trifle wild. Mine buried itself in
+the lion's shoulder. Young's hit him in the nose.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He reared and struck at this latter shaft, then, not dislodging it,
+began swaying back and forth while with both front paws he fought the
+arrow.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While he thrashed about thus in the tree top, we nocked two more arrows
+and shot. We both missed the brute. Young's flew off into the next
+state, and if you ever go up into Tuolumne County, you will find mine
+buried deep in the heart of an oak.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Just as we nocked a third arrow, he freed himself from the offending
+shaft in his muzzle, raised his fore-paws upon a limb and prepared to
+leap. In that movement he bared the white hair of his throat and chest,
+and like a flash, two keen arrows were driven through his heart area.
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<a href="images/211a.jpg"><img src="images/211ath.jpg" alt="ARTHUR YOUNG AND HIS COUGAR"></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<a href="images/211b.jpg"><img src="images/211bth.jpg" alt="OUR FIRST MOUNTAIN LION"></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<a href="images/211c.jpg"><img src="images/211cth.jpg" alt="WE PACK THE PANTHER TO CAMP"></a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As they struck and disappeared from sight, he leaped. Like a flying
+squirrel, he soared over our heads. Full seventy-five feet he cleared
+in one mighty outward, downward bound. I saw his body glint across the
+rising sun, swoop in a wonderful curve and land in a sheltering bush.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The dogs threw themselves upon him. There was a medley of sounds, a
+fierce, but brief fight, and all was over. We grabbed him by the tail
+and dragged him forth--dead. The ringleader of our pack, trembling with
+excitement, effort, and fighting frenzy, drove all the other dogs away
+and took possession of the body. No one but a man, his master, might
+touch it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Our lion was a young male, six feet eight inches from tip to tip, and
+weighing a little over one hundred and twenty pounds. Later, as we
+skinned him, we found his paws full of porcupine quills, speaking
+loudly of his recent experience. The stomach was empty; the chest was
+full of blood from our arrows.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He was as easy to kill as a deer. We packed him back to camp and added
+his photograph to our rogues' gallery.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There was no further goat killing on that Sierra ranch.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This was our first lion, and for me so far, my only one. Arthur Young,
+however, has been fortunate enough to land two cougars by himself on
+another hunting trip.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Captain C. H. Styles, a recent addition to the ranks of field archers,
+while on an expedition to cut yew staves in Humboldt County,
+California, started a mountain lion, ran him to bay with hounds, and
+killed him with one arrow in the chest. We shall undoubtedly hear more
+of the captain later on.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But so long as we can draw a bowstring and our legs hold out, and there
+is an intelligent dog to be had, it will not be the last lion on our
+list. Wherever there are deer, there will be found panthers, and it is
+our business to help reduce their number in the game fields to maintain
+the balance of power.
+</p>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<h2><a name="xiv">XIV</a></h2>
+
+<h3>GRIZZLY BEAR</h3>
+
+<p>
+The very idea of shooting grizzly bears with the bow and arrow strikes
+most people as so absurd that they laugh at the mention of it. The
+mental picture of the puny little archery implements of their childhood
+opposed to that of the largest and most fearsome beast of the Western
+world, produces merriment and incredulity.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Because it seemed so impossible, I presume, this added to our desire to
+accomplish it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Ever since we began hunting with the bow, we had talked of shooting
+grizzlies. We thought of an Alaskan trip as a remotely attainable
+adventure, and planned murderous arrows of various ingenious spring
+devices to increase their cutting qualities. We estimated the power of
+formidable bows necessary to pierce the hides of these monsters. In
+fact, it was the acme of our hunting desires.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We read the biography of John Capen Adams and his adventures with the
+California grizzlies, and Roosevelt's admirable descriptions of these
+animals. They filled out our dreams with detail. And after killing
+black bears we needed only the opportunity to make our wish become an
+exploit.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The opportunity to do this arrived unexpectedly, as many opportunities
+seem to, when the want and the preparedness coincide.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The California Academy of Sciences has in its museum in Golden Gate
+Park, San Francisco, a collection of very fine animal habitat groups,
+among which are deer, antelope, mountain sheep, cougars, and brown
+bear. While an elk group was being installed, it happened that the
+taxidermist, Mr. Paul Fair, said to me that the next and final setting
+would be one of grizzly bears. In surprise, I asked him if it were not
+a fact that the California grizzly was extinct. He said this was true,
+but the silver-tip bear of Wyoming was a grizzly and its range extended
+westward to the Sierra Nevada Mountains; so it could properly be
+classified as a Pacific Coast variety. He cited Professor Merriam's
+monograph on the classification of grizzlies to prove his statements.
+He also informed me that permit might be obtained from Washington to
+secure these specimens in Yellowstone National Park.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Immediately I perceived an opportunity and interviewed Dr. Barton
+Everman, curator of the museum, concerning the feasibility of offering
+our services in taking these bears at no expense to the academy.
+Incidentally, we proposed to shoot them with the bow and arrow, and
+thereby answer a moot question in anthropology. The proposition
+appealed to him, and he wrote to Washington for a permit to secure
+specimens in this National Park, stating that the bow and arrow would
+be used. I insisted upon this latter stipulation, so that there should
+be no misunderstanding if, in the future, any objection was raised to
+this method of hunting.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In a very short time permit was given to the academy, and we started
+our preparations for the expedition. This was late in the fall of 1919,
+and bear were at their best in the spring, just after hibernation; so
+we had ample time.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was planned that Mr. Compton, Mr. Young, and I should be the
+hunters, and such other assistance would be obtained as seemed
+necessary. We began reviewing our experience and formulating the
+principles of the campaign.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Our weapons we now considered adequate in the light of our contact with
+black bears. We had found that our bows were as strong as we could
+handle, and ample to drive a good arrow through a horse, a fact which
+we had demonstrated upon the carcasses of recently dead animals.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But we decided to add to the length of our arrowheads, and use tempered
+instead of soft steel as heretofore. We took particular pains to have
+them perfect in every detail.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then we undertook the study of the anatomy of bears and the location
+and size of their vital organs. In the work of William Wright on the
+grizzly, we found valuable data concerning the habits and nature of
+these animals.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In spite of the reputation of this bear for ferocity and tenacity of
+life, we felt that, after all, he was only made of flesh and blood, and
+our arrows were capable of solving the problem.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We also began preparing ourselves for the contest. Although habitually
+in good physical condition, we undertook special training for the big
+event. By running, the use of dumbbells and other gymnastic practices,
+we strengthened our muscles and increased our endurance. Our field
+shooting was also directed toward rapid delivery and the quick judgment
+of distances on level, uphill, and falling ground. In fact, we planned
+to leave no factor for success untried.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+My brother, G. D. Pope, of Detroit, being a hunter of big game with the
+gun, was invited to join the party, and his advice was asked concerning
+a reliable guide. He gladly consented to come with us and share the
+expenses. At the same time he suggested Ned Frost, of Cody, Wyoming, as
+the most experienced hunter of grizzly bears in America.
+
+About this time one of my professional friends visited the Smithsonian
+Institute at Washington, where he met a member of the staff, who
+inquired if he knew Doctor Pope, of San Francisco, a man that was
+contemplating shooting grizzlies with the bow and arrow. The doctor
+replied that he did, whereat the sage laughed and said that the feat
+was impossible, most dangerous and foolhardy; it could not be done. We
+fully appreciated the danger involved--therein lay some of the zest.
+But we also knew that even should we succeed in killing them in
+Yellowstone Park, the glory would be sullied by the popular belief that
+all park bears are hotel pets, live upon garbage, and that it was a
+cruel shame to torment them with arrows.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So in my early correspondence with Frost, I assured him that we did not
+want to shoot any tame bears and that we would not consider the trip at
+all if this were necessary. He assured us that this was not necessary,
+and reminded us that Yellowstone Park was fifty miles wide by sixty
+miles long, and that some of the highest portions of the Rocky
+Mountains lay in it. The animals in this preserve, he said, were far
+from tame and the bears were divided into two distinct groups, one
+mostly composed of black and brown with a few inferior specimens of
+grizzlies that frequent the dumps back of the camps and hotels, and
+another group of bears that never came near civilization, but lived
+entirely up in the rugged mountains and were as dangerous and wary as
+those in Alaska or any other wild country. These bear wander outside
+the park and furnish hunting material throughout the neighboring State.
+He promised to put us in communication with grizzlies that were as
+unspoiled and unafraid as those first seen by Lewis and Clarke in their
+early explorations.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After explaining the purposes of our trip and the use of the bow, Ned
+Frost agreed that it was a real sporting proposition and took up the
+plan with enthusiasm. I sent him a sample arrow we used in hunting, and
+his letter in reply I take the liberty of printing. It is typical of
+the frontier spirit and comes, not only from the foremost grizzly
+hunter of all times, but discloses the man's bigness of heart:
+</p>
+
+<p class="ind">
+    "My dear Doctor:
+</p>
+
+<p class="ind">
+    "Your letter of the 18th was received a day or so ago, and last
+    night I received 'Good Medicine' [a hunting arrow] on the evening
+    train, and I feel better away down deep about this hunt after a
+    good examination of this little Grizzly Tickler than I have at any
+    time before. I have, by mistake, let it simmer out in a quiet way
+    that I was going to see what a grizzly would really do if he had a
+    few sticks stuck in his innerds, and my friends have been giving
+    the Mrs. and me a regular line of farewell parties. Really, I think
+    it has been a splendid paying thing to do; pork chops are high, you
+    know, and I really feel I am off to the good about nine dollars and
+    six bits worth of bacon and flour right now on this deal. Maybe
+    I'll be in debt to you before green-grass if I don't look out.
+</p>
+
+<p class="ind">
+    "Well, anyway, here is hoping we will all live through it and have
+    a dandy time. Don't worry about coming to blows with the bear; I
+    have noticed from long experience that it is not the times that you
+    think a bear is going to give you trouble that it happens, but
+    always when least expected. I have trailed wounded grizzlies time
+    and time again, and was more or less worried all the while, but
+    never had one turn on me yet. Then, too, I have had about three
+    experiences with them that made my hair stand straight up, and when
+    it finally settled, it had more FROST in it than ever before; and
+    let me add right here, that one of the worst places I ever got into
+    was when I had sixteen of the best bear dogs that were ever gotten
+    together I believe, after an old she-grizzly, and I was like you,
+    thought they would hold the bear's attention. BUT, don't let any
+    notion like this get you into trouble. Now, I am not running down
+    dogs as a means of getting bear; I love them and would now have a
+    good pack if it was possible to run them in the game fields of this
+    State, but you don't want to think that they can handle a grizzly
+    like they do a black bear. In fact, I would place no value on them
+    whatsoever as a safeguard in case a grizzly got on the pack, and I
+    am speaking from experience, mind you. No, a good little shepherd
+    would do more than a dozen regular bear dogs, but there is only
+    about one little shepherd like I speak of in a lifetime.
+</p>
+
+<p class="ind">
+    "If you can use the bow from horseback, here is a safe proposition,
+    and I believe a practical one, too. But I don't feel that there is
+    really so much danger in the game after all, as it is only once in
+    a great while that any bear will go up against the human animal,
+    and then is most likely to be when you are not expecting it at all.
+    Don't worry about it. What I am thinking about most is to get the
+    opportunity to get the first arrow into some good big worthy old
+    boy that will be a credit to the expedition.
+</p>
+
+<p class="ind">
+    "There are lots of grizzlies in the park all right, and some of
+    them are not very wild, but if you get out away from the hotels a
+    few miles, they are not going to come up and present their
+    broadsides to you at thirty yards. So, as I say, I am thinking
+    mostly about the chances of getting the opportunities. I don't
+    know, of course, just how close you can place your arrows at thirty
+    yards, and it is getting the first hole into them that I am most
+    interested in now. I feel that we ought to get some good chances,
+    as I have seen so many bear in the park; but, of course, have never
+    hunted them and don't know just how keen they will be when it comes
+    right down to getting their hides. There are some scattered all
+    over the park that will rob a camp at night, and some of them will
+    even put up a fight for it, but most of them will beat it as soon
+    as one gets after them.
+</p>
+
+<p class="ind">
+    "It would be impossible, I believe, to keep dogs still while
+    watching a bait, as they would get the scent of any approaching
+    bear, and then you would not be able to keep them quiet, and they
+    would most likely scare the bear out of the country. I can rustle a
+    few dogs to take along if you want them, and pretty good dogs, too;
+    but I am not strong for them myself only in this way, to put them
+    on the trail of a bear and take a good horse apiece, so that we
+    could get up to the chase and have a chance to land on him. This
+    might be a good thing to try if all others failed.
+</p>
+
+<p class="ind">
+    "I know how you feel about killing clean with the bow and not
+    having any shooting, and I can assure you that I would let 'em get
+    just as close as you want them, and not feel any concern about
+    their getting the best of anybody, and you would have a chance to
+    use the bow well in this case; but I am more prone to think they
+    will beat it off with a lot of your perfectly good arrows than
+    anything else.
+</p>
+
+<p class="ind">
+    "Yours truly,
+</p>
+
+<p class="ind">
+    "NED FROST."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+ It was apparent from the first that dogs were of little use in taking
+grizzly. It would be necessary to shoot from blinds set conveniently
+near bait. Frost assured us that bears of this variety, when just out
+of hibernation and lean, would run out of the country if chased by a
+pack of dogs, and incidentally kill all that they could catch. In the
+fall of the year, when the bears are fat, they refuse to run, but wade
+through the pack, which is unable to keep him from attacking the
+hunter.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As an example of this, he related an instance where he started a
+grizzly with eight or ten Russian bear hounds, and chased the beast
+about thirty miles. As he followed on horseback, he found one after the
+other of his dogs torn to pieces, disemboweled, and dismembered. At
+last, he came upon the bear at bay in deep snow, against a high cliff.
+Only two of his hounds were left, and one of these had a broken leg.
+Mad with vengeance, Frost shot the grizzly. It charged him at forty
+yards. In quick succession he fired five bullets in the oncoming bear,
+seemingly with no effect. Up to his waist in the snow, he was unable to
+avoid its rush. It came on and fell dead on his chest, with the
+faithful hound hanging to it in a desperate effort to save his master.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This is one of the three or four maulings that Ned has received in his
+hunting experiences, which, he says, "have added frost to my golden
+locks." The dog became a cherished pet in the family for many years.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Frost killed his first bear when fourteen years of age, and has added
+nearly five hundred to this number since that time.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is characteristic of the grizzly that he will charge upon the
+slightest provocation, and that nothing will turn him aside from his
+purpose. Later we found this particularly true where the female with
+cubs is concerned.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Instances of this are too well known to recount, but one coming under
+our own experience was related to me by Tom Murphy, the bear hunter of
+California.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In early days in Humboldt County, there lived an old settler named Pete
+Bluford, who was a squaw man. He shot a female grizzly with cubs within
+a quarter of a mile of what are now the town limits of Blocksburg. The
+beast charged and struck him to the ground. At the same time she ripped
+open the man's abdomen. Bluford dropped under a fallen tree, where the
+bear repeatedly assaulted him, tearing at his body. By rolling back and
+forth as the grizzly leaped over the log to reach him from the other
+side, he escaped further injury. Worried by the hunter's dog, she
+finally ceased her efforts and wandered off. The man was able to reach
+home in spite of a large open wound in his abdomen, with protruding
+intestines. This was roughly sewed together by his friend, Beany
+Powell. He recovered from the experience and lived many years with the
+Indians of that locality. As an example of Western humor, it is related
+that Beany Powell, when sewing up the wound with twine and a sack
+needle, found a large lump of fat protruding from the incision, of
+which he was unable to dispose; so he cut it off, tried out the grease
+in the frying-pan and used it to grease his boots.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Old Bluford became a character in the country. He was, in fact, what is
+colloquially known as "an old poison oaker." This is an individual who
+sinks so low in the scale of civilization that he lives out in the
+backwoods or poison oak brush and becomes animal in type. His hair grew
+to his shoulders, his beard was unkempt, his finger nails were as long
+as claws and filthy with dirt. Rags of unknown antiquity partially
+covered his limbs, vermin infested his body and he stayed with the most
+degraded remnants of the Indians.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One cold winter they found him dead in his dilapidated cabin. He lay on
+the dirt floor, his ragged coat over his face, his hands beneath his
+head, and two house cats lay frozen, one beneath each arm. These old
+pioneers were strange people and died strange deaths.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In our plans to capture grizzlies we took into consideration the
+proclivity of this beast to attack. We knew his speed was tremendous.
+He is able to catch a horse or a dog on the run. Therefore, it is
+useless for a man to try to run away from him. There is no such thing
+as being able to climb a tree if the animal is at close quarters. Adams
+has shown that it is a mistake to attempt it. One only stretches
+himself out inviting evisceration in the effort.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We decided if cornered either to dodge or to lie flat and feign death.
+So we practiced dodging, our running being more for the purpose of
+gaining endurance and to follow the bear if necessary.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Ishi, the Yana Indian, said that grizzlies were to be overcome with
+arrows and if they charged, they were to be met with the spear and
+fire. So we constructed spears having well-tempered blades more than a
+foot in length set upon heavy iron tubing and riveted to strong ash
+handles six feet in length. Back of the blade we fashioned quick
+lighting torches of cotton waste saturated with turpentine. These could
+be ignited by jerking a lanyard fastened to a spring faced with
+sandpaper. The spring rested on the ends of several matches. It was an
+ingenious and reliable device.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Esquimaux used a long spear in hunting the polar bear. It was ten
+or twelve feet in length. After being shot with an arrow, if the bear
+charged, they rested the butt of the spear on the ground, lowered the
+point and let the bear impale himself on it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When the time came to use our weapons, Ned Frost dissuaded us from the
+attempt. He said that he once owned a pet grizzly and kept it fast with
+a long chain in the back yard. This bear was so quick that it could lie
+in its kennel, apparently asleep, and if a chicken passed within proper
+distance, with incredible quickness she reached out a paw and seized
+the chicken without the slightest semblance of effort. And when at
+play, the boys tried to stick the bear with a pitchfork, she would
+parry the thrusts and protect herself like a boxer. It was impossible
+to touch her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The fire, Frost thought, might serve at night, but in the daylight it
+would lose its effect. So he insisted that he would carry a gun to be
+used in case of attack. On our part, we stipulated that he was to
+resort to it only to prevent disaster and protested that such an
+exigency must be looked upon by us as a complete failure of our plans.
+We knew we could not stop the mad rush of a bear with our arrows, but
+we hoped to kill at least one by this means and compromise on the rest
+if necessary.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Indians, besides employing the spear, poisoned arrows, and fire, also
+used protected positions, or shot from horseback. We scorned to shoot
+from a tree and were told that few horses could be ridden close enough,
+or fast enough, to get within bowshot of a grizzly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Inquiry among those qualified to know, led to the estimate of the
+number of all bears in the Park to be between five hundred and one
+thousand. Considering that there are some three thousand square miles
+of land, that there were nearly sixty thousand elk, besides hundreds of
+bison, antelope, mountain sheep, and similar animals, this does not
+seem improbable. I am aware that recent statements are to the effect
+that there were only forty grizzlies there. This is palpably an
+underestimate, and probably takes into account only those that frequent
+the dumps. Frost believes that there are several hundred grizzlies in
+the Park, many of which range out in the adjacent country. So we felt
+no fear of decimating their ranks, and had every hope of seeing many.
+In fact, their number has so increased in recent years that they have
+become a menace and require killing off.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+During the past five years four persons have either been mauled or
+killed by grizzlies in Yellowstone. One of these was a teamster by the
+name of Jack Walsh. He was sleeping under his wagon at Cold Springs
+when a large bear seized him by the arm, dragged him forth and ripped
+open his abdomen. Walsh died of blood poison and peritonitis a few days
+later. Frost himself was attacked. He was conducting a party of
+tourists through the preserve and had just been explaining to them
+around the camp-fire that there was no danger of bears. He slept in the
+tent with a horse wrangler by the name of Phonograph Jones. In the
+middle of the night a huge grizzly entered his tent and stepped on the
+head of Jones, peeling the skin off his face by the rough pressure of
+his paw. The man waked with a yell, whereupon the bear clawed out his
+lower ribs. The cry roused Frost, who having no firearms, hurled his
+pillow at the bear.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With a roar, the grizzly leaped upon Ned, who dived into his sleeping
+bag. The animal grasped him by the thighs, and dragged him from the
+tent out into the forest, sleeping bag and all. As he carried off his
+victim, he shook him from side to side as a dog shakes a rat. Frost
+felt the great teeth settle down on his thigh bones and expected
+momentarily to have them crushed in the powerful jaws. In a thicket of
+jack pines over a hundred yards from camp, the bear shook him so
+violently that the muscles of the man's thighs tore out and he was
+hurled free from the bag. He landed half-naked in the undergrowth
+several yards away.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While the frenzied bear still worried the bedding, Frost dragged
+himself to a near-by pine and pulled himself up in its branches by the
+strength of his arms.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The camp was in an uproar; a huge fire was kindled; tin pans were
+beaten; one of the helpers mounted a horse and by circling around the
+bear, succeeded in driving him away.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After first aid measures were administered, Frost was successfully
+nursed back to health and usefulness by his wife. But since that time
+he has an inveterate hatred of grizzlies, hunting them with grim
+persistency.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is said that nearly forty obnoxious grizzlies were shot by the Park
+rangers after this episode and Frost was given a permit to carry a
+weapon. We found later that he always went to sleep with a Colt
+automatic pistol strapped to his wrist.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We planned to enter the Park in two parties. One, comprised of Frost,
+the cook, horse wrangler, my brother, and his friend, Judge Henry
+Hulbert, of Detroit, was to proceed from Cody and come with a pack
+train across Sylvan Pass. Our party consisted of Arthur Young and
+myself; Mr. Compton was unexpectedly prevented from joining us by
+sickness in his family. We were to journey by rail to Ashton. This was
+the nearest point to Yellowstone Station on the boundary of the
+reservation that could be reached by railroad in winter.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We arrived at this point near the last of May 1920. The roads beyond
+were blocked with snow, but by good fortune, we were taken in by one of
+the first work trains entering the region through the personal interest
+and courtesy of the superintendent of the Pocatello division.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We had shipped ahead of us a quantity of provisions and came outfitted
+only with sleeping bags, extra clothing, and our archery equipment.
+This latter consisted of two bows apiece and a carrying case containing
+one hundred and forty-four broad-heads, the finest assembly of bows and
+arrows since the battle of Crecy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Young had one newly made bow weighing eighty-five pounds and his
+well-tried companion of many hunts, Old Grizzly, weighing seventy-five
+pounds.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He later found the heavier weapon too strong for him in the cold
+weather of the mountains, where a man's muscles stiffen and lose their
+power, while his bow grows stronger.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+My own bows were seventy-five pounds apiece--"Old Horrible," my
+favorite, a hard hitter and sweet to shoot, and "Bear Slayer," the
+fine-grained, crooked-limbed stave with which I helped to kill our
+first bear. Our arrows were the usual three-eighths birch shafts,
+carefully selected, straight and true. Their heads were tempered steel,
+as sharp as daggers. We had, of course, a few blunts and eagle arrows
+in the lot.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the Park we found snow deep on the ground and the roads but recently
+cleared with snow plows and caterpillar tractors. We traveled by auto
+to Mammoth Hot Springs and paid our respects to Superintendent
+Albright, and ultimately settled in a vacant ranger's cabin near the
+Canyon. Here we awaited the coming of the second party.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Our entrance into the Park was well known to the rangers, who were
+instructed to give us all the assistance possible. This cabin soon
+became a rendezvous for them and our evenings were spent very
+pleasantly with stories and fireside music.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After several days, word was sent by telephone that Frost and his
+caravan were unable to cross Sylvan Pass because of fifty feet of snow
+in the defile, and that he had returned to Cody where he would take an
+auto truck and come around to the northern entrance to the Park,
+through Gardner, Montana.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At the expiration of three days he drove up to our cabin in a flurry of
+snow. This was about the last day in May.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Frost himself is one of the finest of Western types; born and raised in
+the sage brush country, a hunter of big game ever since he was large
+enough to hold a gun. He was in the prime of life, a man of infinite
+resource, courage, and fortitude. We admired him immensely.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With him he had a full camp outfit, selected after years of experience,
+and suited to any kind of weather.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The party consisted of Art Cunningham, the cook; G.D. Pope, and Judge
+Henry Hulbert. Art came equipped with a vast amount of camp craft and
+cookery wisdom. My brother came to see the fun, the Judge to take
+pictures and add dignity to the occasion. All were seasoned woodsmen
+and hunters.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We moved to more commodious quarters, a log cabin in the vicinity, made
+ourselves comfortable, and let the wind-driven snow pile deep drifts
+about our warm shelter while we planned a campaign against the
+grizzlies.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So far, we had met few bears, and these were of the tourist variety.
+They had stolen bacon from the elevated meat safe, and one we found in
+the woods sitting on his haunches calmly eating the contents of a box
+of soda crackers. These were the hotel pets and were nothing more than
+of passing interest to us.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Contrary to the usual condition, no grizzlies were to be seen. The only
+animals in evidence were a few half-starved elk that had wintered in
+the Park, marmots, and the Canadian jay birds.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We began our hunts on foot, exploring Hayden Valley, the Sour Creek
+region, Mt. Washburn, and the headwaters of Cascade Creek.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The ground was very wet in places and heavy with snow in the woods. It
+was necessary, therefore, to wear rubber pacs, a type of shoe well
+suited to this sort of travel.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Our party divided into two groups, usually my brother and the Judge
+exploring in one direction while Young and I kept close at the heels of
+Frost. We climbed all the high ridges and swept the country with our
+binocular glasses. Prom eight to fourteen hours a day we walked and
+combed the country for bear signs.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Our original plan was to bring in several decrepit old horses with the
+pack train and sacrifice them for bait. But because of the failure of
+this part of our program, we were forced to find dead elk for this
+purpose. We came across a number of old carcasses, but no signs that
+bear had visited them recently. Our first encounter with grizzly came
+on the fourth day. We were scouting over the country near Sulphur
+Mountain, when Frost saw a grizzly a mile off, feeding in a little
+valley. The snow had melted here and he was calmly digging roots in the
+soft ground. We signalled to our party and all drew together as we
+advanced on our first bear, keeping out of sight as we did so.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We planned to go rapidly down a little cut in the hills and intercept
+him as he came around the turn. Progressing at a rapid pace, Indian
+file, we five hunters went down the draw, when suddenly our bear, who
+had taken an unexpected cut-off, came walking up the ravine. At a sign
+from Ned, we dropped to our knees and awaited developments. The bear
+had not seen us and the faint breeze blew from him to us. He was about
+two hundred yards off. We were all in a direct line, Frost ahead, I
+next, Young behind me, and the others in the rear. Our bows were braced
+and arrows nocked.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Slowly the bear came feeding toward us. He dug the roots of white
+violets, he sniffed, he meandered back and forth, wholly unconscious of
+our presence. We hardly breathed. He was not a good specimen, rather a
+scrawny, long-nosed, male adolescent, but a real grizzly and would do
+as a starter.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At last he came within fifty yards, stopped, pawed a patch of snow, and
+still we did not shoot. We could not without changing our position
+because we were all in one line. So we waited for his next move, hoping
+that he would advance laterally and possibly give us a broadside
+exposure.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But he came onward, directly for us, and at thirty yards stopped to
+root in the ground again. I thought, "Now we must shoot or he will walk
+over us!" Just then he lifted his head and seemed to take an eyeful of
+Young's blue shirt. For one second he half reared and stared. I drew my
+bow and as the arrow left the string, he bounded up the hill. The
+flying shaft just grazed his shoulder, parting the fur in its course.
+Quick as a bouncing rubber ball, he leaped over the ground and as
+Young's belated arrow whizzed past him, he disappeared over the hill
+crest.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We rose with a deep breath and shouted with laughter. Ned said that if
+it had not been for that blue shirt, the bear would have bumped into
+us. Well, we were glad we missed him, because after all, he was not the
+one we were looking for. It is a hard thing to pick grizzlies to order.
+You can't go up and inspect them ahead of time.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This fiasco was just an encouragement to us, and we continued to rise
+by candle light and hunt till dark. The weather turned warmer, and the
+snow began to melt.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At the end of the first week we saw five grizzlies way off in the
+distance at the head of Hayden Valley. They were three or four miles
+from us and evening was approaching, so we postponed an attack on them.
+Next morning, bright and early, we were on the ground again, hoping to
+see them. Sure enough, there they were! Ned, Art and I were together;
+my brother and the Judge were off scouting on the other side of the
+ridge. It was about half past eight in the morning. The bears, four in
+number this time, were feeding in the grassy marshland, about three
+miles up the valley. Ned's motto has always been: "When you see 'em, go
+and get 'em."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We decided to attack immediately. Down the river bank, through the
+draws, up into the timber we circled at a trot. It was hard going, but
+we were pressed for time. At last we came out on a wooded point a
+quarter of a mile above the bears, and rested. We knew they were about
+to finish their morning feeding and go up into the forest to lay up for
+the day. So we watched them in seclusion.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We waxed our bowstrings and put the finishing touches on our
+arrow-heads with a file.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Slowly the bears mounted the foothills, heading for a large patch of
+snow, where Frost thought they would lie down to cool before entering
+the woods. It seems that their winter coat makes them very susceptible
+to heat, and though the sun had come out pleasantly for us, it was too
+hot for them. There was an old female and three half-grown cubs in
+their third year, all looking big enough for any museum group.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At last they settled down and began to nuzzle the snow. The time had
+come for action. We proposed to slip down the little ravine at the edge
+of the timber, cross the stream, ascend the hill on the opposite side,
+and come up on our quarry over the crest. We should thus be within
+shooting distance. The wind was right for this maneuver, so we started
+at once.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now as I write my muscles quiver, my heart thumps and I flush with a
+strange feeling, thinking of that moment. Like a soldier before a
+battle, we waded into an uncharted experience. What does a man think of
+as he is about to enter his first grizzly encounter? I remember well
+what passed through my head: "Can we get there without alarming the
+brutes?" "How close will they be?" "Can we hit them?" "What will happen
+then?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Ned Frost, Young and I were to sneak up on four healthy grizzlies in
+the open, and pit our nerve against their savage reaction. Ned had his
+rifle, but this was to be used only as a last resort, and that might
+easily fail at such short range.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As we walked rapidly, stepping with utmost caution, I answered all the
+questions of my subconscious fears. "Hit them? Why, we will soak them
+in the gizzard; wreck them!" "Charge? Let them come on and may the best
+man win!" "Die? There never was a fairer, brighter, better day to die
+on." In fact, "Lead on!" I felt absolutely gay. A little profanity or a
+little intellectual detachment at these times is of material help in
+the process of auto-suggestion.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As for Young, he was silent, and possibly was thinking of camp
+flapjacks.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Half way up the hill, on the opposite side of which lay our grizzlies,
+we stopped, braced our bows, took three arrows apiece from our quivers,
+and proceeded in a more stealthy approach.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Young and I arranged ourselves on each side of Frost, abreast with him.
+Near the top Ned took out a green silk handkerchief and floated it in
+the gentle breeze to see if the wind had changed. If it had, we might
+find the bears coming over the top to meet us. Everything was perfect,
+so far! Now, stooping low we crept to the very ridge itself, to a spot
+directly above which we believed the bears to be. Laying our hats on
+the grass and sticking our extra arrows in the ground before us, we
+rose up, bows half drawn, ready to shoot.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There on the snow, not over twenty-five yards off, lay four grizzly
+bears, just like so many hearth rugs.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Instantly, I selected the farthest bear for my mark and at a signal of
+the eye we drew our great bows to their uttermost and loosed two deadly
+arrows.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We struck! There was a roar, they rose, but instead of charging us,
+they rushed together and began such a fight as few men have seen. My
+bear, pinioned with an arrow in the shoulder, threw himself on his
+mother, biting her with savage fury. She in turn bit him in the bloody
+shoulder and snapped my arrow off short. Then all the cubs attacked
+her. The growls and bellowing were terrific.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Quickly I nocked another arrow. The beasts were milling around
+together, pawing, biting, mad with rage. I shot at my bear and missed
+him. I nocked again. The old she-bear reared on her haunches, stood
+high above the circling bunch, cuffing and roaring, the blood running
+from her mouth and nostrils in frothy streams. Young's arrow was deep
+in her chest. I drove a feathered shaft below her foreleg.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The confusion and bellowing increased, and, as I drew a fourth arrow
+from my quiver, I glanced up just in time to see the old female's hair
+rise on the back of her neck. She steadied herself in her wild hurtling
+and looked directly at us with red glaring eyes. She saw us for the
+first time! Instinctively I knew she would charge, and she did.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Quick as thought, she bounded toward us. Two great leaps and she was on
+us. A gun went off at my ear. The bear was literally knocked head over
+heels, and fell in backward somersaults down the steep snowbank. At
+some fifty yards she checked her course, gathered herself, and
+attempted to charge again, but her right foreleg failed her. She rose
+on her haunches in an effort to advance, when, like a flash, two arrows
+flew at her and disappeared through her heaving sides. She faltered,
+wilted, and as we drew to shoot again, she sprawled out on the ground,
+a convulsed, quivering mass of fur and muscle--she was dead.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The half grown cubs had disappeared at the boom of the gun. We saw one
+making off at a gallop, three hundred yards away. The glittering
+snowbank before us was vacant.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The air seemed strangely still; the silence was oppressive. Our nervous
+tension exploded in a wave of laughter and exclamations of wonderment.
+Frost declared he had never seen such a spectacle in all his life; four
+grizzly bears in deadly combat; the din of battle; the wild bellowing;
+and two bowmen shooting arrow after arrow into this jumble of
+struggling beasts.
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<a href="images/236a.jpg"><img src="images/236ath.jpg" alt="OUR CAMP AT SQUAW LAKE, WYOMING"></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<a href="images/236b.jpg"><img src="images/236bth.jpg" alt="THE RESULT OF OUR FIRST ENCOUNTER WITH A CHARGING GRIZZLY BEAR"></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<a href="images/236c.jpg"><img src="images/236cth.jpg" alt="BRINGING HOME THE TROPHIES"></a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The snow was trampled and soaked with blood as though there had been an
+Indian massacre. We paced off the distance at which the charging female
+had been stopped. It was exactly eight yards. A mighty handy shot!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We went down to view the remains. Young had three arrows in the old
+bear, one deep in her neck, its point emerging back of the shoulder. He
+shot that as she came at us. His first arrow struck anterior to her
+shoulder, entered her chest, and cut her left lung from top to bottom.
+His third arrow pierced her thorax, through and through, and lay on the
+ground beside her with only its feathers in the wound.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+My first arrow cut below the diaphragm, penetrated the stomach and
+liver, severed the gall ducts and portal vein. My second arrow passed
+completely through her abdomen and lay on the ground several yards
+beyond her. It had cut the intestines in a dozen places and opened
+large branches of the mesenteric artery.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The bullet from Frost's gun had entered at the right shoulder,
+fractured the humerus, blown a hole an inch in diameter in the chest
+wall, opened up a jagged hole in the trachea, and dissipated its energy
+in the left lung. No wound of exit was found, the soft nose
+copper-jacketed bullet apparently having gone to pieces after striking
+the bone.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Anatomically speaking, it was an effective shot, knocked the bear down
+and crippled her, but was not an immediately fatal wound. We had her
+killed with arrows, but she did not know it. She undoubtedly would have
+been right on us in another second. The outcome of this hypothetical
+encounter I leave to those with vivid imaginations.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We hereby express our gratitude to Ned Frost.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now one of us had to rush off and get the rest of the party. Judge
+Hulbert and my brother were in another valley in quest of bear. So Ned
+set off at a rapid tramp across the bogs, streams, and hills to find
+them. Within an hour they returned together to view the wreckage.
+Photographs were taken, the skinning and autopsy were performed. Then
+we looked around for the wounded cub. Frost trailed him by almost
+invisible blood stains and tracks, and found him less than a quarter of
+a mile away, huddled up as if asleep on the hillside, my arrow nestled
+to his breast. The broken shaft with its blade deep in the thorax had
+completely severed the head of his humerus, cut two ribs, and killed
+him by hemorrhage from the pulmonary arteries. Half-grown as he was, he
+would have made an ugly antagonist for any man.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His mother, a fine mature lady of the old school, showed by her teeth
+and other lineaments her age and respectability. In autumn she would
+have weighed four or five hundred pounds. We weighed her in
+installments with our spring scales; she registered three hundred and
+five pounds. She was in poor condition and her pelt was not suitable
+for museum purposes. But these features could not be determined readily
+beforehand. The juvenile Ursus weighed one hundred and thirty-five
+pounds. We measured them, gathered their bones for the museum,
+shouldered their hides, and turned back to camp.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+That night Ned Frost said, "Boys, when you proposed shooting grizzly
+bears with the bow and arrow, I thought it a fine sporting proposition,
+but I had my doubts about its success. Now I know that you can shoot
+through and kill the biggest grizzly in Wyoming!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Our instructions on leaving California were to secure a large male
+<i>Ursus Horribilis Imperator</i>, a good representative female, and two or
+three cubs. The female we had shot filled the requirements fairly well,
+but the two-year-old cub was at the high school age and hardly cute
+enough to be admired. Moreover, no sooner had we sent the news of our
+first success to the Museum than we were informed that this size cub
+was not wanted and that we must secure little ones.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So we set out to get some of this year's vintage in small bears.
+Ordinarily, there is no difficulty in coming in contact with bears in
+Yellowstone; in fact, it is more common to try to keep some of the
+hotel variety from eating at the same table with you. But not a single
+bear, black, brown, or silver-tipped, now called upon us. We traveled
+all over that beautiful Park, from Mammoth Hot Springs to the Lake. We
+hunted over every well-known bear district. Tower Falls, Specimen
+Ridge, Buffalo Corrals, Mt. Washburn, Dunraven Pass (under twenty-five
+feet of snow), Antelope Creek, Pelican Meadows, Cub Creek, Steamboat
+Point, and kept the rangers busy on the lookout for bear. From eight to
+fifteen hours a day we hunted. We walked over endless miles of
+mountains, climbed over countless logs, plowed through snow and slush,
+and raked the valleys with our field glasses.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But bears were as scarce as hen's teeth. We saw a few tracks but
+nothing compared to those seen in other years.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We began to have a sneaking idea that the bear had all been killed off.
+We knew they had been a pest to campers and were becoming a menace to
+human life. We suspected the Park authorities of quiet extermination.
+Several of the rangers admitted that a selective killing was carried
+out yearly to rid the preserve of the more dangerous individuals.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then the elk began to pour back into the Park; singly, in couples, and
+in droves they returned, lean and scraggly. A few began to drop their
+calves. Then we began to see bear signs. The grizzly follow the elk,
+and after they come out of hibernation and get their fill of green
+grass, they naturally take to elk calves. Occasionally they include the
+mother in the menu.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We also began to follow the elk. We watched at bait. We sat up nights
+and days at a time, seeing only a few unfavorable specimens and these
+were as wild and as wary as deer. We found the mosquitoes more deadly
+than the bear. We tracked big worthy old boys around in circles and had
+various frustrated encounters with she-bears and cubs.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Upon one occasion we were tracking a prospective specimen through the
+woods, proceeding with great caution, when evidently the beast heard
+us. Suddenly, he turned on his tracks and came on a dead run for us. I
+was in advance and instantly drew my bow, holding it for the right
+moment to shoot. The bear came directly in our front, not more than
+twenty yards away and being startled by the sight of us, threw his
+locomotive mechanism into reverse and skidded towards us in a cloud of
+snow and forest leaves. In the fraction of a second, I perceived that
+he was afraid and not a proper specimen for our use. I held my arrow
+and the bear with an indignant and disgusted look, made a precipitous
+retreat. It was an unexpected surprise on both sides.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They say that the Indians avoided the Yellowstone region, thinking it a
+land of evil spirits. In our wanderings, however, we picked up on
+Steamboat Point a beautiful red chert arrow-head, undoubtedly shot by
+an Indian at elk years before Columbus burst in upon these good people.
+In Hayden Valley we found an obsidian spear head, another sign that the
+Indian knew good hunting grounds.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But no Indian was ever so anxious to meet grizzly as we were. We hunted
+continually, but found none that suited us; we had to have the best.
+Frost assured us that we had made a mistake in ever trying to get
+grizzlies in the Park--and that in the time we spent there we could
+have secured all our required specimens in the game fields of Wyoming
+or Montana.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A month passed; the bears were beginning to lose their winter coats;
+our party began to disintegrate. My brother and the Judge were
+compelled to return to Detroit. A week or so later Ned Frost and the
+cook were scheduled to take out another party of hunters from Cody and
+prepared to leave us. Young and I were determined to stick it out until
+the last chance was exhausted. We just had to get those specimens.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Before Frost left us, however, he packed us up to the head of Cascade
+Creek with our bows and arrows, bed rolls, a tarpaulin, and a couple of
+boxes of provisions.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We had received word from a ranger that a big old grizzly had been seen
+at Soda Butte and we prepared to go after him. At the last moment
+before departure, a second word came that probably this same bear had
+moved down to Tower Falls and was ranging between this point and the
+Canyon, killing elk around Dunraven Pass.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Young and I scouted over this area and found diggings and his tracks.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A good-sized bear will have a nine-inch track. This monster's was
+eleven inches long. We saw where he made his kills and used certain
+fixed trails going up and down the canyons.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Frost gave us some parting advice and his blessing, consigned us to our
+fate, and went home.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Left to ourselves, we two archers inspected our tackle and put
+everything in prime condition. Our bows had stood the many wettings
+well, but we oiled them again. New strings were put on and thoroughly
+waxed. Our arrows were straightened, their feathers dried and preened
+in the sun. The broad-heads were set on straight and sharpened to the
+last degree, and so prepared we determined to do our utmost. We were
+ready for the big fellow.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In our reconnaissance we found that he was a real killer. His trail was
+marked by many bloody episodes. It seemed quite probable that he was
+the bear that two years before burst in upon a party of surveyors in
+the mountains and kept them treed all night. It is not unlikely that he
+was the same bear that caused the death of Jack Walsh. He seemed too
+expert in planning murder. We saw by his tracks how he lay in ambush
+watching a herd of elk, how he sneaked up on a mother elk and her
+recently born calf on the outskirts of the band, and with a great leap
+threw himself upon the two and killed them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In several places we saw the skins of these little wapiti licked clean
+and empty of bodily structure. No other male grizzly was permitted to
+enter his domain. He was, in fact, the monarch of the mountain, the
+great bear of Dunraven Pass.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We pitched our little tent in a secluded wood some three miles from the
+lake at the head of Cascade Creek, and began to lay our plan of attack.
+We were by this time inured to fatigue and disappointment. Weariness
+and loss of sleep had produced a dogged determination that knew no
+relaxation. And yet we were cheerful. Young has that fine quality so
+essential to a hunting companion, imperturbable good nature, never
+complaining, no matter how heavy the load, how long the trail, how late
+or how early the hour, how cold, how hot, how little, or how poor the
+food.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We were there to win and nothing else mattered. If it rained and we
+must wait, we took out our musical instruments, built up the fire and
+soothed our troubled souls with harmony. This is better than tobacco or
+whiskey for the purpose. In fact, Young is so abstemious that even tea
+or coffee seem a bit intemperate to him, and are only to be used under
+great physical strain; and as for profanity, why, I had to do all the
+swearing for the two of us.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We were trained down to rawhide and sinew, keyed to alertness and ready
+for any emergency.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Often in our wanderings at night we ran unexpectedly upon wild beasts
+in the dark. Some of these were bears. Our pocket flashlights were used
+as defensive weapons. A snort, a crashing retreat through the brush
+told us that our visitant had departed in haste, unable to stand the
+glaring light of modern science.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We soon found that our big fellow was a night rover also, and visited
+his various kills under the cloak of darkness. In one particularly
+steep and rugged canyon, he crossed a little creek at a set place. Up
+on the side of this canyon he mounted to the plateau above by one of
+three possible trails. At the top within forty yards of one of these
+was a small promontory of rock upon which we decided to form a blind
+and await his coming. We fashioned a shelter of young jack pines,
+constructed like a miniature corral, less than three by six feet in
+area, but very natural in appearance. Between us and the trail was a
+quantity of down timber which we hoped would act as an impediment to an
+onrushing bear. And the perpendicular face of our outcropping elevated
+us some twelve or thirteen feet above the steep hillside. A small tree
+stood near our position and offered a possibility in case of attack.
+But we had long ago decided that no man can clamber up a tree in time
+to escape a grizzly charging at a distance less than fifty yards. We
+could be approached from the rear, but altogether it was an ideal
+ambush.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The wind blew steadily up the canyon all night long and carried our
+scent away from the trail. Above us on the plateau was a recently
+killed elk which acted as a perpetual invitation to bears and other
+prowlers of the night.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So we started watching in this blind, coming soon after dusk and
+remaining until sunrise. The nights were cold, the ground pitiless, and
+the moon, nearly at its full, crept low through a maze of mist.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dressed in our warmest clothing and permitting ourselves one blanket
+and a small piece of canvas, we huddled together in a cramped posture
+and kept vigil through the long hours. Neither of us smoked anyway, and
+of course, this was absolutely taboo; we hardly whispered, and even
+shifted our positions with utmost caution. Before us lay our bows ready
+strung, and arrows, both in the quiver belted upright to the screen and
+standing free close at hand.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The first evening we saw an old she-bear and her two-year-old cubs come
+up the path. They passed us with that soft shuffling gait so uncanny to
+hear in the dark. We were delighted that they showed no sign of having
+detected us. But they were not suited to our purpose and we let them
+go. The female was homely, fretful and nervous. The cubs were yellow
+and ungainly. We looked for better things.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bears have personality, as obvious as humans. Some are lazy, some
+alert, surly, or timid. Nearly all the females we saw showed that
+irritability and irascible disposition that go with the cares of
+maternity. This family was decidedly commonplace.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They disappeared in the gloom, and we waited and waited for the big
+fellow that some time must appear.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But morning came first; we stole from our blind, chilled and stiffened,
+and wandered back to camp to breakfast and sleep. The former was a
+fairly successful event, but the latter was made almost impossible by
+the swarms of mosquitoes that beset us. A smudge fire and canvas
+head-coverings gave us only a partial immunity. By sundown we were on our
+way again to the blind, but another cold dreary night passed without
+adventure.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On our way to camp in the dim light of early dawn, a land fog hung low
+in the valley. As we came up a rough path there suddenly appeared out
+of the obscurity three little bear cubs, not thirty-five yards away.
+They winded us, squeaked and stood on their hind legs, peering in our
+direction. We dropped like stones in our tracks, scarcely breathing,
+figuratively frozen to the ground, for instantly the fiercest-looking
+grizzly we ever saw bounded over the cubs and straddled them between
+her forelegs. Nothing could stop her if she came on. A little brush
+intervened and she could not locate us plainly for we could see her
+eyes wander in search of us; but her trembling muscles, the vicious
+champing of her jaws, and the guttural growls, all spoke of immediate
+attack. We were petrified. She wavered in her intent, turned, cuffed
+her cubs down the hill, snorted and finally departed with her family.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We heaved a deep sigh of relief. But she was wonderful, she was the
+most beautiful bear we had ever seen; large, well proportioned, with
+dark brown hair having just a touch of silver. She was a patrician, the
+aristocrat of the species. We marked her well.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Next day, just at sunset, we got our first view of the great bear of
+Dunraven Pass. He was coming down a distant canyon trail. He looked
+like a giant in the twilight. With long swinging strides he threw
+himself impetuously down the mountainside. Great power was in every
+movement. He was magnificent! He seemed as large as a horse, and had
+that grand supple strength given to no other predatory animal.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Though we were used to bears, a strange misgiving came over me. We
+proposed to slay this monster with the bow and arrow. It seemed
+preposterous!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the blind another long cold night passed. The moon drifted slowly
+across the heavens and sank in a haze of clouds at daybreak. Just at
+the hush of dawn, the homely female and her tow-headed progeny came
+shuffling by. We were desperate for specimens, and one of these would
+match that which we already had. I drew up my bow and let fly a
+broad-head at one of the cubs. It struck him in the ribs. Precipitately,
+the whole band took flight. My quarry fell against an obstructing log and
+died. His mother stopped, came back several times, gazed at him
+pensively, then disappeared. We got out, carried him to a distant spot
+and skinned him. He weighed one hundred and twenty pounds. My arrow had
+shaved a piece off his heart. Death was instantaneous.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We packed home the hind quarters and made a fine grizzly stew. Before
+this we had found that the old bears were tough and rancid, but the
+little ones were as sweet and tender as suckling pigs. This stew was
+particularly good, well seasoned with canned tomatoes and the last of
+our potatoes and onions. Sad to relate the better part of this savory
+pot next day was eaten by a wandering vagabond of the <i>Ursus</i> family.
+Not content with our stew, he devoured all our sugar, bacon, and other
+foodstuffs not in cans, and wound up his debauch by wiping his feet on
+our beds and generally messing up the camp. Probably he was a regular
+camp thief.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+That night, early in the watch, we heard the worthy old boy come down
+the canyon, hot in pursuit of a large brown bear. As he ran, the great
+animal made quite a noise. His claws clattered on the rocks, and the
+ground seemed to shake beneath us. We shifted our bows ready for
+action, and felt the keen edge of our arrows. Way off in the forest we
+heard him tree the cowardly intruder with such growls and ripping of
+bark that one would imagine he was about to tear the tree down.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After a long time he desisted and, grunting and wheezing, came slowly
+up the canyon. With the night glasses we could see him. He seemed to be
+considerably heated with his exercise and scratched himself against a
+young fir tree. As he stood on his hind legs with his back to the trunk
+and rubbed himself to and fro, the tree swayed like a reed; and as he
+lifted his nose I observed that it just touched one of the lower
+branches. In the morning, after he had gone and we were on our way to
+camp, we passed this very fir and stretching up on my tip toes, I could
+just touch the limb with my fingers. Having been a pole vaulter in my
+youth, I knew by experience that this measurement was over seven feet
+six inches. He was a real he-bear! We wanted him more than ever.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The following day it rained--in fact, it rained nearly every day near
+the end of our stay; but this was a drenching that stopped at sunset,
+leaving all the world sweet and fragrant. The moon came out full and
+beautiful, everything seemed propitious.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We went to the blind about an hour before midnight, feeling that surely
+this evening the big fellow would come. After two hours of frigidity
+and immobility, we heard the velvet footfalls of bear coming up the
+canyon. There came our patrician and her royal family. The little
+fellows pattered up the trail before their mother. They came within
+range. I signalled Young and we shot together at the cubs. We struck.
+There was a squeak, a roar, a jumble of shadowy figures and the entire
+flock of bears came tumbling in our direction.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At that very moment the big grizzly appeared on the scene. There were
+five bears in sight. Turning her head from side to side, trying to find
+her enemy, the she-bear came towards us. I whispered to Young, "Shoot
+the big fellow." At the same time, I drew an arrow to the head, and
+drove it at the oncoming female. It struck her full in the chest. She
+reared; threw herself sidewise, bellowed with rage, staggered and fell
+to the ground. She rose again, weakened, stumbled forward, and with
+great gasps she died. In less than half a minute it was all over. The
+little ones ran up the hill past us, one later returned and sat up at
+its mother's head, then disappeared in the dark forever.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While all this transpired, the monster grizzly was romping back and
+forth in the shaded forest not more than sixty-five yards away. With
+deep booming growls like distant thunder, he voiced his anger and
+intent to kill. As he flitted between the shadows of the trees, the
+moonlight glinted on his massive body; he was enormous.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Young discharged three arrows at him. I shot two. We should have
+landed, he was so large. But he galloped off and I saw my last arrow at
+the point blank range of seventy-five yards, fall between his legs. He
+was gone. We thought we had missed the beast and grief descended heavy
+upon us. The thought of all the weary days and nights of hunting and
+waiting, and now to have lost him, was very painful.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After our palpitating hearts were quiet and the world seemed peaceful,
+we got out of our blind and skinned the female by flashlight. She was a
+magnificent specimen, just right in color and size for the Museum, not
+fat, but weighing a trifle over five hundred pounds. My arrow had
+severed a rib and buried its head in her heart. We measured her and
+saved her skull and long bones for the taxidermist.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At daybreak we searched for the cubs and found one dead under a log
+with an arrow through his brain. The others had disappeared.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We had no idea that we hit the great bear, but just to gather up our
+shafts, we went over the ground where he had been.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One of Young's arrows was missing!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+That gave us a thrill; perhaps we had hit him after all! We went
+further in the direction he had gone; there was a trace of blood.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We trailed him. We knew it was dangerous business. Through clumps of
+jack pines we cautiously followed, peering under every pile of brush
+and fallen tree. Deep into the forest we tracked him, where his bloody
+smear was left upon fallen logs. Soon we found where he had rested.
+Then we discovered the fore part of Young's arrow. It had gone through
+him. There was a pool of blood. Then we found the feathered butt which
+he had drawn out with his teeth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Four times he wallowed down in the mud or soft earth to rest and cool
+his wound. Then beneath a great fir he had made a bed in the soft loam
+and left it. Past this we could not track him. We hunted high and low,
+but no trace of him could we find. Apparently he had ceased bleeding
+and his footprints were not recorded on the stony ground about. We made
+wide circles, hoping to pick up his trail. We searched up and down the
+creek. We cross-cut every forest path and runway, but no vestige
+remained.
+</p>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<a href="images/251a.jpg"><img src="images/251ath.jpg" alt="LOOKING FOR GRIZZLIES ON CUB CREEK"></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<a href="images/251b.jpg"><img src="images/251bth.jpg" alt="THE TREE THAT NED FROST CLIMBED TO ESCAPE DEATH"></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<a href="images/251c.jpg"><img src="images/251cth.jpg" alt="MY FEMALE GRIZZLY AND THE ARROW THAT KILLED HER"></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<a href="images/251d.jpg"><img src="images/251dth.jpg" alt="ARTHUR YOUNG SLAYS THE MONARCH OF THE MOUNTAINS"></a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He was gone. We even looked up in the tree and down in the ground where
+he had wallowed. For five hours we searched in vain, and at last, worn
+with disappointment and fatigue, we lay down and slept on the very spot
+where he last stopped.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Near sundown we awoke, ate a little food, and started all over again to
+find the great bear. We retraced our steps and followed the fading
+evidence till it brought us again to the pit beneath the fir tree. He
+must be near. It was absolutely impossible for any animal to have lost
+so much blood and travel more than a few hundred yards past this spot.
+We had explored the creek bottom and the cliffs above from below, and
+we now determined to traverse every foot of the rim of the canyon from
+above. As we climbed over the face of the rock we saw a clot of dried
+blood. We let ourselves down the sheer descent, came upon a narrow
+little ledge, and there below us lay the huge monster on his back,
+against a boulder, cold and stiff, as dead as Cesar. Our hearts nearly
+burst with happiness.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There lay the largest grizzly bear in Wyoming, dead at our feet. His
+rugged coat was matted with blood. Well back in his chest the arrow
+wound showed clear. I measured him; twenty-six inches of bear had been
+pierced through and through. One arrow killed him. He was tremendous.
+His great wide head; his worn, glistening teeth; his massive arms; his
+vast, ponderous feet and long curved claws; all were there. He was a
+wonderful beast. It seemed incredible. I thumped Young on the shoulder:
+"My, that was a marvelous shot!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We started to skin our quarry. It was a stupendous job, as he weighed
+nearly one thousand pounds, and lay on the steep canyon side ready to
+roll on and crush us. But with ropes we lashed him by the neck to a
+tree and split him up the back, later box-skinning the legs according
+to the method required by the museum.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+By flashlight, acetylene lamp, candle light, fire light and moonlight,
+we labored. We used up all our knives, and having neglected to bring
+our whet-stones, sharpened our blades on the volcanic boulders, about
+us. By assiduous industry for nine straight hours, we finished him
+after a fashion. His skin was thick and like scar tissue. His meat was
+all tendons and gristle. The hide was as tight as if glued on.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the middle of the night we stopped long enough to broil some grizzly
+cub steaks and brew a pot of tea; then we went at it again.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As we dismembered him we weighed the parts. The veins were absolutely
+dry of blood, and without this substance, which represents a loss of
+nearly 10 per cent of his weight, he was nine hundred and sixteen
+pounds. There was hardly an inch of fat on his back. At the end of the
+autumn this adipose layer would be nearly six inches thick. He would
+then have weighed over fourteen hundred pounds. He stood nearly four
+feet high at the shoulders, while his skull measured eighteen and a
+half inches long; his entire body length was seven feet four inches.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As we cleaned his bones we hurled great slabs of muscle down the
+canyon, knowing from experience that this would be a sign for all other
+bears to leave the vicinity. Only the wolves and jays will eat grizzly
+meat.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At last we finished him, as the sun rose over the mountain ridges and
+gilded all the canyon with glory. We cleaned and salted the pelts,
+packed them on our backs, and, dripping with salt brine and bear
+grease, staggered to the nearest wagon trail. The hide of the big bear,
+with unskinned paws and skull, weighed nearly one hundred and fifty
+pounds.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We cached our trophies, tramped the weary miles back to camp, cleaned
+up, packed and wandered to the nearest station, from which we ordered a
+machine. When this arrived we gathered our belongings, turned our
+various specimens over to a park ranger, to be given the final
+treatments, and started on our homeward trip.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We were so exhausted from loss of sleep, exertion and excitement, that
+we sank into a stupor that lasted almost the entire way home.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The California Academy of Sciences now has a handsome representative
+group of <i>Ursus Horribilis Imperator</i>. We have the extremely
+satisfactory feeling that we killed five of the finest grizzly bear in
+Wyoming. The sport was fair and clean, and we did it all with the bow
+and arrow.
+</p>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<h2><a name="xv">XV</a></h2>
+
+<h3>ALASKAN ADVENTURES</h3>
+
+<p>
+It seems as if Fate had chosen my hunting companion, Arthur Young, to
+add to the honor and the legends of the bow. At any rate it fell to his
+lot to make two trips to Alaska between the years 1922 and 1925.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He and his friend, Jack Robertson, were financed in a project to
+collect moving-picture scenes of the Northland.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They were instructed to show the country in all its seasonal phases, to
+depict the rivers, forests, glaciers and mountains, particularly to
+record the summer beauties of Alaska. The animal life was to be
+featured in full:--fish, birds, small game, caribou, mountain sheep,
+moose and bear, all were to be captured on the celluloid film, and with
+all this a certain amount of hunting with the bow was to be included
+and the whole woven into a little story of adventure.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Equipped with cameras, camp outfit and archery tackle, they sailed for
+Seward. From here they ventured into the wilderness as circumstances
+directed. Sometimes they went by boat to Kadiac Island, sometimes to
+the Kenai Peninsula, or they journeyed by dog sleds and packs inland.
+They spent the better part of two years in this hard, exacting work,
+often carrying as much as a hundred pounds on their backs for many
+miles. Great credit must be given to Art's partner Jack Robertson, for
+his energy, bravery and fortitude. His work with the camera will make
+history, but for the time being we shall focus our attention on the man
+with the bow. Only a small portion of Young's time was devoted to
+hunting, the exigencies incidental to travel and gathering animal
+pictures were such that archery was of secondary importance.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He hunted and shot ptarmigan, some on the wing; he added grouse and
+rabbit meat to the scant larder of their "go light" outfit. He shot
+graylings and salmon in the streams. He could easily have killed
+caribou because they operated close to vast herds of these foolish
+beasts. However, at the time it seemed that there was no hurry about
+the matter; they had meat in camp, and pictures were of greater
+interest just then. They expected to see plenty of these animals.
+Strangely enough the herd suddenly left the country and no further
+opportunity presented itself for shooting them. This was no great
+disappointment because the sport was too easy. What did seem worth
+while was the killing of the great Alaskan moose. These beasts are the
+largest game animal on this continent, with the exception of the almost
+extinct bison.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Young had his first chance at moose while on the Kenai Peninsula. Here
+the boys were camped and having finished his camera work Art took a day
+off to hunt.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the afternoon he discovered a large old bull lying down in a
+burnt-over area, where approach by stealth was possible, so he began
+his stalk with utmost caution, paying particular attention to scent and
+sound. By crawling on his hands and knees he came within a hundred and
+fifty yards, when his progress was stopped by a fallen tree. To go
+around it, would expose him to vision; to climb over, would alarm the
+animal by snapping twigs; so Young decided to dig under. He worked with
+his hunting knife and hands for one hour to accomplish this operation.
+When he had passed this obstacle he continued his crawling till he
+reached a distance of sixty yards. At this stage Art called the old
+bull with a birch bark horn, then the moose heard him and stood up. The
+brush was so thick that he could not shoot immediately, but waited as
+the old bull circled to catch his wind and answered the challenge. When
+he presented a fair target at seventy yards or so, Art drove an arrow
+at him. It struck deep in the flank, up to the feather ranging forward.
+The bull was only startled a trifle and trotted off a hundred yards.
+Here he stopped to look and listen. Young drew his bow again, and
+overshooting his mark, his arrow struck one of the broad thick palms of
+the antlers. The point pierced the two inches of bone and wedged tight,
+making a sharp report as it hit. This started the animal off at a fast
+trot. Young followed slowly at some distance and soon had the
+satisfaction of seeing the moose waver in his course and lie down.
+After a reasonable wait the hunter advanced to his quarry and found him
+dead. The triumph of such an episode is more or less mixed with misery.
+The pleasure undoubtedly would have been greater had some other lusty
+bow man been with him, but as it was he had to feast his eyes alone,
+moreover he had to make his way back to camp, which was some eight
+miles off, and night rapidly coming on.
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<a href="images/258.jpg"><img src="images/258th.jpg" alt="BULL MOOSE BAGGED ON THE KENAI PENINSULA"></a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This part of the story was just as thrilling to Art, because he must
+stumble through the rough land of "little sticks" in the dark with the
+constant apprehension of meeting some unwelcome Alaska brown bear,
+which were thick there, and also the extremely unpleasant experience of
+running into dead trees, tripping over fallen limbs and dropping into
+gullies. He reached camp ultimately, I believe. Next day he returned
+with his companion for meat, his antler trophy and the picture, which
+we present.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This bull weighed approximately sixteen hundred pounds and had a spread
+of sixty inches across its antlers.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Upon the second expedition a year later, Young bagged another moose.
+Here the arrow penetrated both sides of the chest and caused almost
+instant death, showing that size is not a hindrance to a quick exodus.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is surprising even to us to see the extreme facility with which an
+arrow can interrupt the essential physiological processes of life and
+destroy it. We have come to the belief that no beast is too tough or
+too large to be slain by an arrow. With especially constructed heads
+sharpened to the utmost nicety, I have shot through a double thickness
+of elephant hide, two inches of cardboard, a bag of shaving and gone
+into an inch of wood. We feel sure that having penetrated the hide of a
+pachyderm his ribs can easily be severed and the heart or pulmonary
+cavity entered. Any considerable incision of either of these vital
+areas must soon cause death. And this is a field experiment which we
+propose to try in the near future.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There is a legitimate excuse for shooting animals such as moose, where
+food is a problem and the bow bears an honorable part in the episode.
+We feel moreover that by using the bow on this large game we are
+playing ultimately for game preservation. For by shaming the "mighty
+hunter" and his unfair methods in the use of powerful destructive
+agents, we feel that we help to develop better sporting ethics.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was partly on this account, and partly to answer the dare of those
+who have said, "You may hunt the tame bears of California and Wyoming,
+but you cannot fool with the big Kadiac bears of Alaska with your
+little bow and arrow," that Young determined to go after these monsters
+and see if they were as fierce and invulnerable as claimed. At the
+present writing we who shoot the bow have slain more than a dozen bears
+with our shafts, but the mighty Kadiac brown grizzly has laughed at us
+from his frozen lair--as the literary nature fakir might say--we have
+been told that all that is necessary if you wish to meet a brownie, is
+to give him your address in Alaska and he will look you up. Also we
+have been told that once insulted he will tear a house down to "get
+even with you,"--so I shook Art's hand good-bye, when he started on
+this Kadiac escapade, and told him to "give 'em hell."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After a long time he came back to San Francisco, and this is the story
+he told me--and Art has no guile in his system but is as straight as a
+bowstring.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"We made a false start in going after our bears. We took a boat from
+Seward and sailed to Seldie, then to Kenai Peninsula. Here we hunted
+for two solid weeks and found practically no signs of brownies.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I decided at the end of this period to waste no more time, but to pull
+out of the country and sail back to Seward. We had but a short time to
+complete our picture before the last boat left the Arctic waters, but
+hearing of good bear signs on Kadiac Island we hit out for this place
+and landed in Uganik Bay. Here in the Long Arm, we found a country with
+many streams flowing down from the mountains which constitute this
+Island, and much small timber in combination with open grassy glades. A
+type of country that is particularly suited for photographic work and
+bow hunting.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"After several days' exploring we discovered that the bears were
+catching salmon in the streams and we were successful in photographing
+as many as seven grizzlies at once. We took pictures of the bears
+wading in the water looking for fish. Usually the bear slaps the salmon
+out of the stream, then goes up on the bank and eats it. The "humpies"
+were so plentiful here, however, that they were tossed out on the bank,
+but not eaten, the bear preferring to capture one while in the water
+then wade about on his hind legs while he held the fish in his arms and
+devoured it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"We got all this and many comic antics of young bears climbing trees
+and playing about by using a telephoto lens. After the camera man was
+satisfied I proposed that we 'pull off' a 'stunt' with the bow.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"By good fortune we saw four bears coming down the mountain side to
+fish. They were making their way slowly through an open valley. The
+camera was stationed at a commanding point and I ran up a dry wash
+thickly grown with willow and alder to head off the bears. I was able
+to get within a hundred yards by use of the willow cover, then the
+brush became too thin to hide me, so I walked boldly out into the open
+to meet the bears. I practically invited them to charge since they were
+reputed to be so easily insulted. At first they paid little attention
+to me, then the two in advance sat up on their haunches in astonishment
+and curiosity. I approached to a distance of fifty yards, then the
+largest brownie began champing his jaws and growling; then he 'pinned
+back his ears' preparing to come at me. Just as he was about to lunge
+forward I shot him in the chest. The arrow went deep and stuck out a
+foot beyond his shoulder. He dropped on all fours and before he could
+make up his mind what hit him, I shot him again in the flank. This
+turned him and feeling himself badly wounded he wheeled about and ran.
+While this was going on an old female also stood in a menacing
+attitude, but as the wounded bear galloped past her, she came to the
+ground and ran diagonally from us. All of them followed suit, and as
+they swept out of the field of vision the wounded bear weakened and
+fell less than a hundred yards from the camera.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"True to his standards the camera man continued to grind out the film
+to the very last, so the whole picture is complete. You will see it
+some day for yourself and it will answer all doubts about the
+invulnerable status of the Kadiac bears."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Young himself was not particularly elated over this conquest. He knew
+long ago that the Kadiac bear was no more formidable than the grizzlies
+we had slain and he only undertook this adventure for show purposes.
+Moreover though he used his heavy osage orange bow and usual
+broad-heads, he declares that he believes he can kill the largest bear
+in Alaska with a fifty pound weapon and proportionately adjusted
+arrows. Both Young and I are convinced of the necessity of very sharp
+broad-heads, and trust more to a keen blade and a quick flight than to
+power.
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<a href="images/263.jpg"><img src="images/263th.jpg" alt="THE GREAT KADIAK BEAR BROUGHT LOW"></a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+During his Alaskan travels Art preferred his Osage bows to the yew.
+They stood being dragged over rocks and falling down mountain sides
+better than the softer yew wood. His three bows were under five feet
+six inches in length, short for convenience and each pulled over
+eighty-five pounds. The country in which he worked was so rocky that it
+was most disastrous on arrows, and every shot that missed meant a
+shattered shaft.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Possibly his roughest trip was one taken to picture mountain goats.
+Here a funny incident occurred. Jack and Art were stalking a herd of
+these wary creatures with the camera when suddenly around a point of
+rock the whole band of goats appeared. Art was ahead and had only just
+time enough to duck down on his hands and knees and hide his face close
+to the ground. He stayed so still that the entire flock passed close by
+him almost touching his body, while the camera man did his work from a
+concealed ledge higher up. Though Young counts it little to his credit,
+he shot one of these male goats, which was poised on so precipitous a
+point that it fell over and over down the mountain side and was lost as
+a trophy and as camp meat. Humiliating as such an episode may be, it
+serves, however, to add a coup to the archer's count. And there we let
+the matter rest.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But what is of greater interest is his outwitting a Rocky Mountain Big
+Horn. This animal is considered the greatest game trophy in America. It
+is an extremely alert sheep, all eyes and wisdom. If you expose
+yourself but a second, though you be a mile away from the ram, probably
+you will be seen. And though the sheep may not move while you look at
+him, he is gone when you have completed your toilsome climb and peer
+over the last ledge of rock preparatory to shooting. Ned Frost used to
+say that when he hunted Big Horns he paid no attention to hearing or
+smell, but he was so careful about sight, that when he raised his head
+cautiously over a ridge to observe the sheep, he always lifted a stone
+and peered underneath it, or picked up a bunch of grass and gazed
+through it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Most hunters are content to stalk this game within three or four
+hundred yards, then aim at it with telescopic sights. It is the last
+word in good hunting.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Stewart Edward White, the author and big game hunter, has said that the
+following experience is one of the finest demonstrations of stalking
+and understanding of animal psychology he knows.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Up near the head of Wood River, Young and his party came on a number of
+Big Horn Sheep and first devoted several days to film work. Then Young
+decided to try for a trophy with the bow. After hunting all morning he
+discovered with his glasses a ram a long way off.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The country was open and had no cover. The ram was resting on a ledge
+of rock elevated above the level of the valley. Even at a distance of
+half a mile it was evident to Art that the ram had seen him, so Young
+studied the sheep and the country carefully before deciding what plan
+to pursue.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From the lay of the land it was plain that no concealment was possible
+and no detour or ambush could be employed. The glasses showed that the
+ram was a fairly old specimen and had a very sophisticated look. In
+fact, to Art he looked conceited and had an expression that said:
+"There is a man, but I am a pretty wise old sheep; I know all about
+men; that fellow hasn't seen me yet and when he does, there is plenty
+of open country back of me; my best plan is to lie still and let this
+tenderfoot pass." So he went on ruminating and blinking at the sun.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Taking this mental attitude into consideration, Young decided that the
+best method of outwitting this particular sheep was to take him at his
+own valuation and proceed as a tenderfoot down the valley. So he walked
+unconcernedly along at an oblique angle to the sheep and never once
+taking a direct look at him. He went gaily along whistling, kicking
+pebbles and swinging his bow. When he had reached a distance of two or
+three hundred yards the old sheep lifted up his head to see what was
+going on. Young paid no attention to him, though he observed him out of
+the corner of his eyes. So the wise old boy settled back content with
+his diagnosis.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Art walked along as innocently as ever. When he was a hundred and fifty
+yards off, the ram raised his head again and took a longer observation.
+He seemed to be changing his mind. Young said to himself, "He will take
+one more look, then he will go. Now is the time to act." So nocking an
+arrow on the string he ran at full speed directly at the sheep, and
+when half way he saw the tip of his horns rise above the ledge and knew
+it was time to stop. He came to his shooting pose and waited, the arrow
+half drawn. Sure enough! Out walked the old fellow to the very edge of
+the parapet and gazed over. Off flew the arrow and in the twilight it
+was lost to vision, but he heard it strike and saw the ram wheel in
+flight. As it disappeared over the ridge Art followed at a run;
+reaching the top he peered cautiously about and saw the sheep at no
+great distance standing still with its legs spread wide apart. He knew
+by the posture that it was done for. So he went back to the valley and
+because of the distance from camp and the oncoming darkness he made a
+fire and "Siwashed it" or camped out in the open all night without
+blankets. In the morning he went after his trophy and found it near the
+spot last seen. It was a fine specimen. The arrow had pierced it from
+front to rear completely through and was lost; a center shot at eighty
+yards; a most remarkable bit of archery and hunting stratagem. This
+head now decorates the dining room of the Young home in San Francisco.
+Unfortunately the moose antlers were cached near a river in Alaska and
+an unprecedented flood carried them out to sea.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While speaking of Alaskan rivers there recurs to my mind a most
+remarkable incident related by Young. In one picture required for their
+film it was necessary to show a canoe in the course of construction,
+the subsequent use of this vessel and an upset in the turbulent waters
+of the river. To represent his bow in its canvas case, and still to
+spare that weapon a wetting, Young went down the river bank to pick out
+a stick about the same size to put in his bow case. Taking the first
+piece that came to hand he started to place it in the case, when struck
+by its smoothness he looked at it and found he had a weatherbeaten old
+Indian bow in his hand. It seemed like a sign, a good omen,--for we
+playfully indulge in omens in these romantic adventures with the bow.
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<a href="images/268.jpg"><img src="images/268th.jpg" alt="ARTHUR YOUNG OUTWITS THE ALASKA BIGHORN"></a>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Studying this implement later I found it apparently to be a birch Urock
+bow, some five feet long, having nocks and a place for the usual
+perpendicular piece of wood bound on at the handle to check the string.
+It would have pulled about sixty pounds, good enough for caribou
+hunting.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And so in brief are the adventures of Art Young in Alaska.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But who can speak of the adventures in the heart of our archer? Here is
+no common hunter, no insensate slayer of animals. Here we have the poet
+afoot,--the archaic adventurer in modern game fields; the champion of
+fair play and clean sport; all that is strong and manly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I take off my hat to Arthur Young.
+</p>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<h2><a name="xvi">A CHAPTER OF ENCOURAGEMENT</a></h2>
+
+<h3>BY STEWART EDWARD WHITE</h3>
+
+<p>
+No one can read Dr. Pope's book without an appreciation of the romance
+and charm of the long bow and the broad-head arrow. And no one can
+doubt that the little group of which he writes has proved that the
+thing can be done. Its members have brought to bag quantities of small
+game, unnumbered deer, mountain goat, big horn sheep, moose, caribou,
+thirteen black bears, six grizzlies, and one monster Kadiak bear. That
+point it proved beyond doubt. But, each will ask; how about it for me?
+These men are experts. It all looks very fascinating; but what chance
+have I?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+That, I believe, is the first reaction of the average man after he has
+savored the real literary charm of this book and begins to consider the
+practical side of the question. It was my own reaction. Fortunately, I
+live within commuting distance of Dr. Pope, so I have been able to
+resolve my doubts--slowly. My purpose is here to summarize what I found
+out.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the first place, the utter beginner has in his hands a weapon that
+is adequate and humane. A bad rifle shot or a bad shotgun shot can and
+does "slobber" his game by hitting it in the wrong places or with the
+outer fringe of his pattern. But if an arrow can be landed anywhere in
+the body it is certain and prompt death. This is not only true of the
+chest cavity, but of the belly; and every rifleman knows that a bullet
+in the latter is ineffective and cruel, and a beast so wounded is
+capable of long distances before it dies. The arrow's deadliness
+depends not on its shocking power, which of course is low, but upon
+internal hemorrhage and the very peculiar fact that the admission of
+air in quantity into any part of the body cavity collapses the lungs.
+Furthermore, again unlike the bullet, the broad arrow seems to be as
+effective at the limit of its longest flight as at the nearer ranges.
+So the amateur bowman, suitably armed, may lay this much of comfort to
+his soul: if by the grace of Robin Hood and the little capricious gods
+of luck he does manage to stray a shaft into a beast, it is going to do
+the trick for him. And of course if he keeps on shooting arrows in the
+general direction of game, the doctrine of chances will land him sooner
+or later!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the meantime--and here is the second point--he is going to have an
+enormous amount of enjoyment from his "close misses." With firearms a
+miss is a miss, and catastrophic. You have failed, and that is all
+there is to it; and you have no earthly means of knowing whether your
+miss was by the scant quarter inch that fairly ruffled the beast's
+crest, or by the disgraceful yards of buck ague or the jerking
+forefinger or the blinking dodging eye. But the beautiful clean flight
+of the arrow can be followed. And when it passes between the neck and
+the bend of wing of wild goose; or it buries its head in the damp earth
+only just below the body line of the unstartled deer, the bowman
+experiences quite as keen a thrill of satisfaction as follows a good
+center with gun or rifle,--even though the game is as scathless as
+though he had missed it by miles. In this type of hunting a miss is
+emphatically <i>not</i> as good as a mile! And the chances are he can try
+again, and yet again, provided nothing else has occurred to affright
+his quarry. To most animals the flight of an arrow is little more than
+the winging past of some strange swift bird.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Thus the joy is not primarily in the size of the bag, nor even in the
+certainty of the bag, but in the woodcraft and the outguessing, and the
+world of little things one must notice to get near enough for his shot,
+and the birds and the breezes and the small matters along the way;
+which is as it should be: and the satisfaction is not wholly centered
+in merely a shot well placed and a trophy quickly come by. Indeed, the
+latter is become almost an incidental; a very welcome and inspiriting
+incidental; a wonderful culmination; but a culmination that is
+necessary only occasionally as a guerdon of emprise rather than an
+invariably indispensability, lacking which the whole expedition must be
+classed as a failure.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At first the seasoned marksman will doubt this. I can only recommend a
+fair trial. One of the most successful experiences of my sporting life
+was one of these "close misses." A very noble buck, broadside on, was
+trotting head up across my front and down a mountain slope nearly a
+hundred and fifty yards away,--out of reasonable range as archers count
+distances. I made my calculations as well as I could and loosed a
+shaft, more in honor of his wide branching antlers than in any sure
+hope. While the arrow was in the air the deer stopped short and looked
+at me. The shaft swept down its long curve and shattered its point
+against a rock at just the right height and about six feet in front of
+the beast. If he had continued his trot, it would have pierced his
+heart. Nothing was the worse for that adventure except the broad-head,
+which was gladly offered to the kindly gods who had so gratifyingly
+watched for me its straight true flight. And I had just as much
+satisfaction from the episode as though I had actually slain the
+deer,--and had had to cut it up and carry it into camp. This would not
+have been true with a rifle. At any range of the bullet's effectiveness
+I should have expected of myself a hit, and a miss would have hugely
+disappointed me with myself and ruined temporarily my otherwise sweet
+disposition.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But even acknowledging all this, the fact indubitably remains that one
+must occasionally get results, one must occasionally <i>expect</i> to get
+results, in order to retain interest. Even though one goes forth boldly
+to slay the bounding roebuck and brings back but the lowly jackrabbit,
+he must once in a blue moon be assured of the jackrabbit. And he must
+get the jackrabbit, not merely through the personal interposition of
+the little gods who preside at roulette tables, but because his bow arm
+held true and his release sweet and the shaft true sped.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+All this is perfectly possible. Any man can within a reasonable time
+become a reasonably good shot if he has the persistence to practice,
+and the patience to live through the first discouragements, and the
+ability to get some fun along the way. The game in its essentials seems
+to me a good deal like golf. It has a definite technique of a number of
+definite elements which must coordinate. When that technique is working
+smoothly results are certain. Like golf a man knows just what he is to
+do; only he cannot make himself do it! As the idea gets grooved in his
+brain, the swing--or the release and the hold,--become more and more
+automatic. But always there will be "on" days when he will shoot a par:
+and "off" days when both ball and shaft fly on the wings of
+contrariness.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Of all the qualities above mentioned, I think for the beginner the most
+important is to cherish confident hope through the early
+discouragements. For a long time there seems to be no improvement
+whatever. And there is not improvement as far as score-results go. But
+the man who studies to perfect the elements of his technique, and is
+not merely shooting arrows promiscuously, is actually improving for all
+that. He must strive to remember that not only is each and every point
+important in itself, but that all must coordinate, must be working well
+together. No matter how crisp the release, it avails not an [sic]
+the bow arm falter or the back muscles relax. Again like golf, one day
+one thing will be working well, and another day another; but it is only
+when they are <i>all</i> working well that the ball screams down the fairway
+or the arrow consistently finds its mark. Thus the beginner, practise
+as thoughtfully as he may, will for a time, perhaps a month or so, find
+little or no encouragement in the accuracy of his shaft's flight. This
+is the period when most men, who have started out enthusiastically
+enough, give up in disgust. Then all at once the persistent ones will
+begin to pick up. It is a good deal like dropping stones in a pool. One
+can drop in a great many stones without altering the surface of the
+water; but there comes a time when the addition of a single pebble
+shows results.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In his chapter on Shooting the Bow, Dr. Pope has most adequately
+outlined the technique. If the beginner will do what the doctor there
+tells him to do, he will shoot correctly. Nevertheless he will find it
+necessary to find out for himself just <i>how</i> he is going to do these
+things. It is largely a matter of getting the proper mental picture,
+and finding out how one feels when he is doing the right thing. Each
+probably gets an entirely individual mental image. Nevertheless a few
+hints from the beginner's standpoint may come gracefully from one who
+only yesterday was a beginner, and who today has struggled but little
+beyond the first marker post of progress.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The target game and the hunting game differ somewhat, but the actual
+technique of releasing the arrow is the same in both. I strongly advise
+the use of a regulation target at regulation distances for at least
+half of one's practice. There is an inexorable quality about the
+painted rings. One cannot jolly oneself into a belief of a "pretty good
+one!" as one does when the roving arrow comes close to the little bush.
+Those rings are spaced in very definite inches! Even when one has
+graduated into a fairly hopeful hunting field, one returns every once
+in a while to the target to check himself up, to find out what he is
+doing wrong. And in the target, too, one can find the interest along
+that valley of preliminary discouragement. One should keep all one's
+scores, no matter how bad they may be. Even if a lowly seventy is the
+best one has been able to accomplish, there is a certain satisfaction
+in going after a not-so-slowly seventy-one. Every ten scores or so
+average up, and see what you have. Thus one can chart a sort of glacial
+movement upwards otherwise imperceptible to one's sardonic estimate of
+himself as the World's Champion Dub.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Begin with a light bow; but work up into the heavier weights as rapidly
+as possible. The first bow I used at target weighed forty pounds. The
+first hunting bow, made for me by Dr. Pope, weighs sixty-five. I could
+draw it to the full, but only with difficulty; and it was not in any
+proper control. I seriously begged the doctor to reduce it for me,
+alleging that never would I be able to handle it. He very properly
+laughed at me. Within the year I had worked up to the point where
+seventy-five pounds seemed about right; and at the present writing I
+have one of eighty-two pounds that handles for me much easier than Dr.
+Pope's gift did at first. So begin light, but work up as fast as
+possible. Do not linger with a weak bow simply because it is easier to
+draw and because you can with it, and a light target, make a better
+target score.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Beware of shooting too much just at first. If you strain the muscles of
+your drawing fingers you will have to lay off just when you are most
+eager. They strengthen very rapidly if you give them a chance. Once
+they are hardened to the work you will have no more trouble and can, as
+far as they are concerned, pop away as long as your bow arm holds out;
+but if once you get them tender and sore you will be forced to quit
+until they recover. It's as bad as a sprain.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Start at forty yards. Stand upright, feet about a foot apart, facing a
+point at right angles to the target. Turn the head sharply to the left
+and look at the bull's-eye. <i>Do not thereafter move it by the fraction
+of an inch.</i> Bring your right arm across your chest. Pause and
+visualize the shot, collecting your powers. Now promptly raise your bow
+in direct line with the target. Draw the arrow to the head as it comes
+up. All your muscles are, up to this point, alert but tensed only to
+the extent necessary to draw the shaft. At the exact moment of release,
+however, they stiffen to the utmost. It is like a little spurt of
+energy released to speed the arrow on its way. That, I think, is what
+Dr. Pope means when he says one should "put his heart in the bow." It
+helps to imagine yourself trying to drive the arrow right through the
+target. Pay especial attention to the muscles of the small of the back.
+The least relaxation there means an ill-sped shaft. The bow arm must be
+on the point of aim, and <i>held</i> there. The release must be sharply
+backward, and vigorous. Personally I find that my mental image is of
+contracting the latissimus dorsi--the muscles of the broad of the back
+by the shoulder blades--and thereby expanding the shoulders, forcing
+the hands apart, but still in direct line with the bull's-eye. And
+after the arrow has left the bow, <i>hold the pose!</i> Carry through!
+Imagine yourself as a statue of an archer, and stay just in that
+position until you hear the arrow strike.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Just in the beginning, at forty yards, with thirty arrows, you may be
+satisfied if you hit the target between sixteen and twenty-one times
+out of the thirty shots and make a score of from sixty to eighty
+points. Your ambition will be, as in golf, to "break" a hundred. By the
+time you have done that your muscles will be in shape and you can begin
+on the American Round. At first you will probably make a total of about
+two hundred for the three distances. Progress will show in your
+averages. They will creep up a few points at a time. It will be a proud
+day when you "break" three hundred. Eventually you will shoot
+consistently in the four hundreds; and that is about as far as you will
+go unless you devote yourself to the target game, and confine yourself
+to its lighter tackle and the super refinements of its delicate
+technique.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The bow you will finally use for practice at the target will not be a
+hunting bow. It will be longer and more whip-ended and not so sturdy.
+But if you are to get the best results for the hunting field, I believe
+it should approximate in weight the hunting weapon. It should not be
+quite as heavy, for one shoots it more continuously. The one I use
+weighs sixty pounds. With a lighter bow one would probably make a
+somewhat better score; but that is a different game. Do not get the
+idea, however, that mere weight is the whole thing. Nothing is worse
+than to be over-bowed; and many a deer has been slain with a fifty or
+fifty-five pound weapon. Only, there is a weight that is adapted to you
+at your best; that "holds you together"; that keeps you on the mark;
+that calls your concentration; and that is like to be on the heavier
+rather than the lighter side as judged by beginner's experience.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In conclusion, let me urge you eventually to make your own tackle.
+Personally, I am not dexterous when it comes to matters of finer
+handicraft; and when I became interested in this game I made up my mind
+that the construction of a bow or the building of a decent arrow was
+outside my line, and that I would not attempt it. After a while Pope
+persuaded me I ought to try arrows, at least. Under protest I attempted
+the job. The Doctor says it takes about an hour to make a good arrow. I
+can add that it takes about four hours to make a bad one. Still, when
+completed it did look surprisingly like an arrow, and it flew point
+first. Pope looked it all over and handed it back with the single
+comment that I certainly had got the shaft straight. But that arrow was
+very valuable. It proved to me that I could at least follow out the
+process and produce <i>some</i> result. It also convinced me that Ashan
+Vitu--who was a heathen god of archers--possessed a magic that could
+make one drop of glue on the shaft become at least one quart on the
+fingers; and that turkeys are obsessed with small contrary devils who
+pass at the bird's death into the first six feathers of its wings and
+there lurk to the confusion of amateur archers. But I wanted to make
+another arrow; and I did; and it was a better arrow and took less time.
+I have that first arrow yet. It is a good idea to number the output;
+and to preserve a sample out of every three dozen or so, just to show
+not only your progress but also the advance of your ideas as to what
+constitutes a good arrow. And some you will probably find valuable for
+especial emergencies. Number Three of my own product is just such a
+one. It starts straight enough for the point at which it was aimed.
+When about thirty yards out it begins to entertain its first distrust
+of its master, and to proceed according to its own ideas. It makes up
+its mind that it has been held too high, and immediately goes into a
+nose dive to rectify the fault. Instantly it realizes that it has
+overdone the matter, and makes a desperate effort to straighten back on
+its course. A partial success darts it to the right. Number Three
+becomes ashamed and flustered. Its course from there on is a series of
+erratic dives and swoops. I should be very sorry to lose Number Three,
+for I am quite confident that I could never make another such. When my
+most painstaking shooting has resulted in a series of misses, I launch
+Number Three. There is no particular good in aiming it, though it can
+be done if found amusing. But it is surprising how often it will at the
+last moment pull off one of its erratic swoops--right into the mark!
+As a compensating device for rotten shooting it is unexcelled. It is a
+pity to laugh at it as much as we do; for I am convinced it is a
+conscientious arrow doing its best under natural handicap; like a prima
+donna with a cleft palate, for instance.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In a manner not dissimilar to my beginning of the fletching art, I took
+up bow making. It can be done. The only thing is to go at it without
+any particular hope. Then you will be surprised and pleased that you
+have achieved any result at all, and will at once see where you could
+do better again. To make a very fine bow is a real art and requires
+much experience and many trials. But to make a serviceable bow that
+will shoot and will hold up for a time is not very difficult. And it is
+great fun! The first occasion on which you go afield with bow,
+bowstring, arrow, quiver, bracer, and finger tips all of your own
+composition, and loose the shaft and the thing not only flies well but
+straight and far, you will taste a wonder and a satisfaction new to
+your experience. It will probably take you some time to convince
+yourself that somehow the whole outfit is not a base imitation.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From that moment you are a true archer, and you will actually look with
+tolerance on anything so stiff and metallic and mechanical as a gun.
+Your wife will accustom herself to shavings and scraps of feathers on
+the rugs. Inspirations will come to you anent better methods, which you
+will urge enthusiastically on the old timers; and the old timers will
+smile upon you sweetly and sadly. They had those same inspirations
+themselves in their green and salad days. Then no longer will you need
+a Chapter of Encouragement.
+[Footnote: Stewart Edward White, the author and big game hunter, has
+so entered into the spirit of archery, that he has become an expert
+shot with the bow after a year's practice. The use of fire-arms no
+longer appeals to him because it is a foregone conclusion just what
+will happen when he aims at an animal. He was considered by Col.
+Roosevelt to be the best shot that ever entered the African game field
+with a gun.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the use of the bow he has revived his interest in hunting, and
+admits that it is a more sporting proposition. At this present writing
+Stewart Edward White, Arthur Young, and I, are on our way to Tanganyika
+Colony, Africa, to carry the legends of the English long bow into the
+tropics. What is written on the scroll of Fate is not visible; but with
+a sturdy bow, a true shaft, and a stout heart, we journey forth in
+search of adventure.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+S. P.]
+</p>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<h2><a name="xvii">THE UPSHOT</a></h2>
+
+<p>
+In ancient times when archery was practiced in open fields and shooting
+at butts or clouts, men walked between their distances much as golfers
+do today, and having completed their course, it was often customary to
+shoot a return round over the same field. This was called the upshot,
+and has descended into common parlance, just as many other phrases have
+which had their origin in the use of the bow and arrow.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So we have come to the end of our story and prepare to say good-bye.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Although we have said much, and probably too much of ourselves, we have
+not spoken the last word in archery. There are a few things that we
+have learned of the art; others know more. And though we would praise
+our pastime beyond measure, protesting that it is healthful, admirable
+and full of romance, yet we cannot claim that it accomplishes all
+things and is the only sport a man should pursue.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Its devotees will find ample room for differences of opinion. The shape
+of a feather and the contour of a bow have been subjects for argument
+since time immemorial. Nor is our art suited to all men. Few indeed
+seem fitted for archery or care for it. But that rare soul who finds in
+its appeal something that satisfies his desire for fair play, historic
+sentiment, and the call of the open world, will be happy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+People will scoff at him for his "medieval crotchet," will think of him
+as the Don Quixote of Sherwood Forest, but in their hearts they will
+have a wistful envy of him; for all men feel the nobility and honorable
+past of our sport. It carries with it dim memory pictures of spring
+days, the green woods and the joy of youth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is also futile to prophesy the future of the bow and arrow. As an
+implement of the chase, to us it seems to hold a place unique for
+fairness. And in the further development of the wild game problem,
+where apparently large game preserves and refuges will be the order of
+the day, the bow is a more fitting weapon with which to slay a beast
+than a gun or any more powerful agent that may be invented.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Of course, there are those who say that all hunting should cease, and
+that photography and nature study alone should be directed toward wild
+life. That sweet day may come, but at least no man can consistently
+decry hunting who eats meat, wears furs or leather, or uses any vestige
+of animal tissue; for he is party to the crime of animal murder, and
+murder more brutal and ignoble than that of the chase.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And those who think the bullet is more certain and humane than the
+arrow have no accurate knowledge on which to base their comparison. Our
+experience has proved the contrary to be the case.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Yet these are not the reasons why we shoot the bow: we do it because we
+love it, and this is no reason; it is an emotion difficult to explain.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Nor should I close this chapter without reference to that noble company
+of archers, the members of the National Archery Association--men and
+women who can shoot as pretty a shaft as any who ever drew a bowstring.
+The names of Will Thompson, Louis Maxson, George P. Bryant, Harry
+Richardson, Dr. Robert P. Elmer, Homer Taylor, Mrs. Howell, and Cynthia
+Wesson are emblazoned on the annals of archery history for all time. To
+them and the many other worthy bowmen who have fostered the art in
+America, we are eternally grateful. The self-imposed discipline of
+target shooting is much harder work than the carefree effort of
+hunting. The rewards, however, are less spectacular.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To you who would follow us into the land of Robin Hood, let me say that
+what you need most is a great longing to come, and perseverance; for if
+I should try to explain how we have accomplished even that little we
+have in hunting, I would protest that it is because we have held to an
+idea and been persistent. In my own mind the credit is ascribed to the
+fact that I have surrounded myself with good companions and tried again
+and again in spite of failure.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+All that we have done is perfectly possible to any adventurous youth,
+no matter what his age.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Nor is that which is written here the finis, for even as I scribble we
+are on our journey to another hunt, and bowmen seem ever to be
+increasing in numbers.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+May the gods grant us all space to carry a sturdy bow and wander
+through the forest glades to seek the bounding deer; to lie in the deep
+meadow grasses; to watch the flight of birds; to smell the fragrance of
+burning leaves; to cast an upward glance at the unobserved beauty of
+the moon. May they give us strength to draw the string to the cheek,
+the arrow to the barb and loose the flying shaft, so long as life may
+last.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Farewell and shoot well!
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<img src="images/185.jpg" alt="(Signature of) Saxton Pope">
+</p>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Hunting with the Bow and Arrow, by Saxton Pope
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+</body>
+</html>
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+This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #8084 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/8084)
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Hunting with the Bow and Arrow, by Saxton Pope
+
+Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the
+copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing
+this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook.
+
+This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project
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+
+
+**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**
+
+**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971**
+
+*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!*****
+
+
+Title: Hunting with the Bow and Arrow
+
+Author: Saxton Pope
+
+Release Date: May, 2005 [EBook #8084]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on June 13, 2003]
+
+Edition: 10
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HUNTING WITH THE BOW AND ARROW ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Eric Eldred, Marvin A. Hodges, Tonya Allen, Charles Franks
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: THE SHADES OF SHERWOOD FOREST]
+
+HUNTING with the
+
+BOW & ARROW
+
+By
+
+Saxton Pope
+
+With 48 Illustrations
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+DEDICATED
+
+TO
+
+ROBIN HOOD
+
+A SPIRIT THAT AT SOME TIME DWELLS IN
+
+THE HEART OF EVERY YOUTH
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+I.--THE STORY OF THE LAST YANA INDIAN.
+
+II.--ISHI'S BOW AND ARROW.
+
+III.--ISHI'S METHODS OF HUNTING.
+
+IV.--ARCHERY IN GENERAL.
+
+V.--HOW TO MAKE A BOW.
+
+VI.--HOW TO MAKE AN ARROW.
+
+VII.--ARCHERY EQUIPMENT.
+
+VIII.--HOW TO SHOOT.
+
+IX.--THE PRINCIPLES OF HUNTING.
+
+X.--THE RACCOON, WILDCAT, FOX, COON, CAT, AND WOLF.
+
+XI.--DEER HUNTING.
+
+XII.--BEAR HUNTING.
+
+XIII.--MOUNTAIN LIONS.
+
+XIV.--GRIZZLY BEAR.
+
+XV.--ALASKAN ADVENTURES.
+
+    A CHAPTER OF ENCOURAGEMENT BY STEWART EDWARD WHITE.
+
+    THE UPSHOT.
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+THE SHADES OF SHERWOOD FOREST
+
+A DEATH MASK OF ISHI
+
+ISHI AND APPERSON
+
+CALLING GAME IN AMBUSH
+
+THE INDIAN'S FAVORITE SHOOTING POSITION
+
+CHOPPING OUT A JUNIPER BOW
+
+OUR CARAVAN LEAVING DEER CREEK CANYON
+
+ISHI FLAKING AN OBSIDIAN ARROW HEAD
+
+THE INDIAN AND A DEER
+
+THREE TYPES OF HUNTING ARROWS
+
+A BLUNT ARROW SHOT THROUGH AN INCH BOARD
+
+"BRER" FOX UP A TREE
+
+ART YOUNG SHOOTS FISH
+
+DETAILS OF BOW CONSTRUCTION
+
+SEVERAL STEPS IN ARROW MAKING
+
+ARROW HEADS OF VARIOUS SORTS USED IN HUNTING
+
+NECESSARY ARCHERY EQUIPMENT
+
+AN ARCHER'S MEASURE, A FISTMELE
+
+THE ENGLISH METHOD OF DRAWING THE ARROW
+
+NOCKING THE SHAFT ON THE STRING
+
+THE LONG BOW FULL DRAWN
+
+WILL AND MAURICE THOMPSON, AS THEY APPEARED IN 1878
+
+SHOOTING BRUSH RABBITS
+
+ARCHERS IN AMBUSH
+
+ISHI RIDING A HORSE FOR THE FIRST TIME
+
+A REST AT NOON
+
+A LYNX THAT MET AN ARCHER
+
+THE CHIEF LOOKING OVER GOOD DEER COUNTRY
+
+MR. COON BROUGHT INTO CAMP
+
+A PRETTY PAIR OF WINGS
+
+JUST A LITTLE HUNT BEFORE BREAKFAST
+
+YOUNG AND COMPTON WITH A QUAIL APIECE
+
+WOODCHUCKS GALORE!
+
+PORCUPINE QUILLS TO DECORATE A QUIVER
+
+A FATAL ARROW AT 65 YARDS
+
+THE CHIEF AND ART GET A BUCK AT 85 YARDS
+
+TOM MURPHY WITH HIS TWO BEST DOGS, BUTTON AND BALDY
+
+YOUNG AND I ARE VERY PROUD OF OUR MAIDEN BEAR
+
+ARTHUR YOUNG AND HIS COUGAR
+
+OUR FIRST MOUNTAIN LION
+
+WE PACK THE PANTHER TO CAMP
+
+CAMP AT SQUAW LAKE, WYOMING
+
+THE RESULT OF OUR FIRST ENCOUNTER WITH GRIZZLY BEAR
+
+BRINGING HOME THE TROPHIES
+
+LOOKING FOR GRIZZLIES ON CUB CREEK
+
+THE TREE THAT NED FROST CLIMBED TO ESCAPE DEATH
+
+MY FEMALE GRIZZLY AND THE ARROW THAT KILLED HER
+
+ARTHUR YOUNG SLAYS THE MONARCH OF THE MOUNTAINS
+
+BULL MOOSE BAGGED ON THE KENAI PENINSULA
+
+THE GREAT KADIAC BEAR BROUGHT LOW
+
+ARTHUR YOUNG OUTWITS THE ALASKA BIGHORN
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Hunting with the Bow and Arrow
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+
+THE STORY OF THE LAST YANA INDIAN
+
+
+The glory and romance of archery culminated in England before the
+discovery of America. There, no doubt, the bow was used to its greatest
+perfection, and it decided the fate of nations. The crossbow and the
+matchlock had supplanted the longbow when Columbus sailed for the New
+World.
+
+It was, therefore, a distinct surprise to the first explorers of
+America that the natives used the bow and arrow so effectively. In
+fact, the sword and the horse, combined with the white man's
+superlative self-assurance, won the contest over the aborigines more
+than the primitive blunderbuss of the times. The bow and arrow was
+still more deadly than the gun.
+
+With the gradual extermination of the American Indian, the westward
+march of civilization, and the improvement in firearms, this contest
+became more and more unequal, and the bow disappeared from the land.
+The last primitive Indian archer was discovered in California in the
+year 1911.
+
+When the white pioneers of California descended through the northern
+part of that State by the Lassen trail, they met with a tribe of
+Indians known as the Yana, or Yahi. That is the name they called
+themselves. Their neighbors called them the Nozi, and the white men
+called them the Deer Creek or Mill Creek Indians. Different from the
+other tribes of this territory, the Yana would not submit without a
+struggle to the white man's conquest of their lands.
+
+The Yana were hunters and warriors. The usual California natives were
+yellow in color, fat and inclined to be peaceable. The Yana were
+smaller of stature, lithe, of reddish bronze complexion, and instead of
+being diggers of roots, they lived by the salmon spear and the bow.
+Their range extended over an area south of Mount Lassen, east of the
+Sacramento River, for a distance of fifty miles.
+
+From the earliest settlement of the whites, hostilities existed between
+them. This resulted in definitely organized expeditions against these
+Indians, and the annual slaughter of hundreds.
+
+The last big round-up of Mill Creek Indians occurred in 1872, when
+their tribe was surprised at its seasonal harvest of acorns. Upon this
+occasion a posse of whites killed such a number of natives that it is
+said the creek was damned with dead bodies. An accurate account of
+these days may be obtained from Watterman's paper on the Yana Indians.
+[1][Footnote 1: Vol. 13, No. 2, _Am. Archaeology and Ethnology_.]
+
+During one of the final raids upon the Yana, a little band of Indian
+women and children hid in a cave. Here they were discovered and
+murdered in cold blood. One of the white scouting party laconically
+stated that he used his revolver to blow out their brains because the
+rifle spattered up the cave too much.
+
+So it came to pass, that from two or three thousand people, the Yana
+were reduced to less than a dozen who escaped extermination. These were
+mainly women, old men and children. This tribal remnant sought the
+refuge of the impenetrable brush and volcanic rocks of Deer Creek
+Canyon. Here they lived by stealth and cunning. Like wild creatures,
+they kept from sight until the whites quite forgot their existence.
+
+It became almost a legend that wild Indians lived in the Mount Lassen
+district. From time to time ranchers or sheep herders reported that
+their flocks had been molested, that signs of Indians had been found or
+that arrowheads were discovered in their sheep. But little credence was
+given these rumors until the year 1908, when an electric power company
+undertook to run a survey line across Deer Creek Canyon with the object
+of constructing a dam.
+
+One evening, as a party of linemen stood on a log at the edge of the
+deep swift stream debating the best place to ford, a naked Indian rose
+up before them, giving a savage snarl and brandishing a spear. In an
+instant the survey party disbanded, fell from the log, and crossed the
+stream in record-breaking time. When they stopped to get their breath,
+the Indian had disappeared. This was the first appearance of Ishi, [2]
+[Footnote 2: Ishi is pronounced "E-she."] the Yana.
+
+Next morning an exploring expedition set out to verify the excited
+report of the night before. The popular opinion was that no such
+wildman existed, and that the linemen had been seeing things. One of
+the group offered to bet that no signs of Indians would be found.
+
+As the explorers reached the slide of volcanic boulders where the
+apparition of the day before had disappeared, two arrows flew past
+them. They made a run for the top of the slide and reached it just in
+time to see two Indians vanish in the brush. They left behind them an
+old white-haired squaw, whom they had been carrying. She was partially
+paralyzed, and her legs were bound in swaths of willow bark, seemingly
+in an effort to strengthen them.
+
+The old squaw was wrinkled with age, her hair was cropped short as a
+sign of mourning, and she trembled with fear. The white men approached
+and spoke kindly to her in Spanish. But she seemed not to understand
+their words, and apparently expected only death, for in the past to
+meet a white man was to die. They gave her water to drink, and tried to
+make her call back her companions, but without avail.
+
+Further search disclosed two small brush huts hidden among the laurel
+trees. So cleverly concealed were these structures that one could pass
+within a few yards and not discern them. In one of the huts acorns and
+dried salmon had been stored; the other was their habitation. There was
+a small hearth for indoor cooking; bows, arrows, fishing tackle, a few
+aboriginal utensils and a fur robe were found. These were confiscated
+in the white man's characteristic manner. They then left the place and
+returned to camp.
+
+Next day the party revisited the site, hoping to find the rest of the
+Indians. These, however, had gone forever.
+
+Nothing more was seen or heard of this little band until the year 1911,
+when on the outskirts of Oroville, some thirty-two miles from the Deer
+Creek camp, a lone survivor appeared. Early in the morning, brought to
+bay by a barking dog, huddled in the corner of a corral, was an
+emaciated naked Indian. So strange was his appearance and so alarmed
+was the butcher's boy who found him, that a hasty call for the town
+constable brought out an armed force to capture him.
+
+Confronted with guns, pistols, and handcuffs, the poor man was sick
+with fear. He was taken to the city jail and locked up for safekeeping.
+There he awaited death. For years he had believed that to fall into the
+hands of white men meant death. All his people had been killed by
+whites; no other result could happen. So he waited in fear and
+trembling. They brought him food, but he would not eat; water, but he
+would not drink. They asked him questions, but he could not speak. With
+the simplicity of the white man, they brought him other Indians of
+various tribes, thinking that surely all "Diggers" were the same. But
+their language was as strange to him as Chinese or Greek.
+
+And so they thought him crazy. His hair was burnt short, his feet had
+never worn shoes, he had small bits of wood in his nose and ears; he
+neither ate, drank, nor slept. He was indeed wild or insane.
+
+By this time the news of the wild Indian got into the city papers, and
+Professor T. T. Watterman, of the Department of Anthropology at the
+University of California, was sent to investigate the case. He
+journeyed to Oroville and was brought into the presence of this strange
+Indian. Having knowledge of many native dialects, Dr. Watterman tried
+one after the other on the prisoner. Through good fortune, some of the
+Yana vocabulary had been preserved in the records of the University.
+Venturing upon this lost language, Watterman spoke in Yana the words,
+_Siwini_, which means pine wood, tapping at the same time the edge of
+the cot on which they sat.
+
+In wonderment, the Indian's face lighted with faint recognition.
+Watterman repeated the charm, and like a spell the man changed from a
+cowering, trembling savage. A furtive smile came across his face. He
+said in his language, _I nu ma Yaki_--"Are you an Indian?" Watterman
+assured him that he was.
+
+A great sense of relief entered the situation. Watterman had discovered
+one of the lost tribes of California; Ishi had discovered a friend.
+
+They clothed him and fed him, and he learned that the white man was
+good.
+
+Since no formal charges were lodged against the Indian, and he seemed
+to have no objection, Watterman took him to San Francisco, and there,
+attached to the Museum of Anthropology, he became a subject of study
+and lived happily for five years.
+
+From him it was learned that his people were all dead. The old woman
+seen in the Deer Creek episode was his mother; the old man was his
+uncle. These died on a long journey to Mt. Lassen, soon after their
+discovery. Here he had burned their bodies and gone into mourning. The
+fact that the white men took their means of procuring food, as well as
+their clothing, contributed, no doubt, to the death of the older
+people.
+
+Half starved and hopeless, he had wandered into civilization. His
+father, once the chieftain of the Yana tribe, having domain over all
+the country immediately south of Mt. Lassen, was long since gone, and
+with him all his people. Ranchers and stockmen had usurped their
+country, spoiled the fishing, and driven off the game. The acorn trees
+of the valleys had been taken from them; nothing remained but evil
+spirits in the land of his forefathers.
+
+Now, however, he had found kindly people who fed him, clothed him, and
+taught him the mysteries of civilization. When asked his name, he said:
+"I have none, because there were no people to name me," meaning that no
+tribal ceremony had been performed. But the old people had called him
+Ishi, which means "strong and straight one," for he was the youth of
+their camp. He had learned to make fire with sticks; he knew the lost
+art of chipping arrowheads from flint and obsidian; he was the
+fisherman and the hunter. He knew nothing of our modern life. He had no
+name for iron, nor cloth, nor horse, nor road. He was as primitive as
+the aborigines of the pre-Columbian period. In fact, he was a man in
+the Stone Age. He was absolutely untouched by civilization. In him
+science had a rare find. He turned back the pages of history countless
+centuries. And so they studied him, and he studied them.
+
+From him they learned little of his personal history and less of that
+of his family, because an Indian considers it unbecoming to speak much
+of his own life, and it brings ill luck to speak of the dead. He could
+not pronounce the name of his father without calling him from the land
+of spirits, and this he could only do for some very important reason.
+But he knew the full history of his tribe and their destruction.
+
+His apparent age was about forty years, yet he undoubtedly was nearer
+sixty. Because of his simple life he was in physical prime, mentally
+alert, and strong in body.
+
+He was about five feet eight inches tall, well proportioned, had
+beautiful hands and unspoiled feet.
+
+His features were less aquiline than those of the Plains Indian, yet
+strongly marked outlines, high cheek bones, large intelligent eyes,
+straight black hair, and fine teeth made him good to look upon.
+
+As an artisan he was very skilful and ingenious. Accustomed to
+primitive tools of stone and bone, he soon learned to use most expertly
+the knife, file, saw, vise, hammer, ax, and other modern implements.
+
+Although he marveled at many of our inventions and appreciated matches,
+he took great pride in his ability to make fire with two sticks of
+buckeye. This he could do in less than two minutes by twirling one on
+the other.
+
+About this time I became an instructor in surgery at the University
+Medical School, which is situated next to the Museum. Ishi was employed
+here in a small way as a janitor to teach him modern industry and the
+value of money. He was perfectly happy and a great favorite with
+everybody.
+
+From his earliest experience with our community life he manifested
+little immunity to disease. He contracted all the epidemic infections
+with which he was brought in contact. He lived a very hygienic
+existence, having excellent food and sleeping outdoors, but still he
+was often sick. Because of this I came in touch with him as his
+physician in the hospital, and soon learned to admire him for the fine
+qualities of his nature.
+
+[Illustration: A DEATH MASK OF ISHI, THE LAST YANA INDIAN]
+
+Though very reserved, he was kindly, honest, cleanly, and trustworthy.
+More than this, he had a superior philosophy of life, and a high moral
+standard.
+
+By degrees I learned to speak his dialect, and spent many hours in his
+company. He told us the folk lore of his tribe. More than forty myths
+or animal stories of his have been recorded and preserved. They are as
+interesting as the stories of Uncle Remus. The escapades of wildcat,
+the lion, the grizzly bear, the bluejay, the lizard, and the coyote are
+as full of excitement and comedy as any fairy story.
+
+He knew the history and use of everything in the outdoor world. He
+spoke the language of the animals. He taught me to make bows and
+arrows, how to shoot them, and how to hunt, Indian fashion. He was a
+wonderful companion in the woods, and many days and nights we journeyed
+together.
+
+After he had been with us three years we took him back to his own
+country. But he did not want to stay. He liked the ways of the white
+man, and his own land was full of the spirits of the departed.
+
+He showed us old forgotten camp sites where past chieftains made their
+villages. He took us to deer licks and ambushes used by his people long
+ago. One day in passing the base of a great rock he scratched with his
+toe and dug up the bones of a bear's paw. Here, in years past, they had
+killed and roasted a bear. This was the camp of _Ya mo lo ku_. His own
+camp was called _Wowomopono Tetna_ or bear wallow.
+
+We swam the streams together, hunted deer and small game, and at night
+sat under the stars by the camp fire, where in a simple way we talked
+of old heroes, the worlds above us, and his theories of the life to
+come in the land of plenty, where the bounding deer and the mighty bear
+met the hunter with his strong bow and swift arrows.
+
+I learned to love Ishi as a brother, and he looked upon me as one of
+his people. He called me _Ku wi_, or Medicine Man; more, perhaps,
+because I could perform little sleight of hand tricks, than because of
+my profession.
+
+But, in spite of the fact that he was happy and surrounded by the most
+advanced material culture, he sickened and died. Unprotected by
+hereditary or acquired immunity, he contracted tuberculosis and faded
+away before our eyes. Because he had no natural resistance, he received
+no benefit from such hygienic measures as serve to arrest the disease
+in the Caucasian. We did everything possible for him, and nursed him to
+the painful bitter end.
+
+When his malady was discovered, plans were made to take him back to the
+mountains whence he came and there have him cared for properly. We
+hoped that by this return to his natural elements he would recover. But
+from the inception of his disease he failed so rapidly that he was not
+strong enough to travel.
+
+Consumed with fever and unable to eat nourishing food, he seemed doomed
+from the first. After months of misery he suddenly developed a
+tremendous pulmonary hemorrhage. I was with him at the time, directed
+his medication, and gently stroked his hand as a small sign of
+fellowship and sympathy. He did not care for marked demonstrations of
+any sort.
+
+He was a stoic, unafraid, and died in the faith of his people.
+
+As an Indian should go, so we sent him on his long journey to the land
+of shadows. By his side we placed his fire sticks, ten pieces of
+dentalia or Indian money, a small bag of acorn meal, a bit of dried
+venison, some tobacco, and his bow and arrows.
+
+These were cremated with him and the ashes placed in an earthen jar. On
+it is inscribed "Ishi, the last Yana Indian, 1916."
+
+And so departed the last wild Indian of America. With him the neolithic
+epoch terminates. He closes a chapter in history. He looked upon us as
+sophisticated children--smart, but not wise. We knew many things and
+much that is false. He knew nature, which is always true. His were the
+qualities of character that last forever. He was essentially kind; he
+had courage and self-restraint, and though all had been taken from him,
+there was no bitterness in his heart. His soul was that of a child, his
+mind that of a philosopher.
+
+With him there was no word for good-by. He said: "You stay, I go."
+
+He has gone and he hunts with his people. We stay, and he has left us
+the heritage of the bow.
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+
+HOW ISHI MADE HIS BOW AND ARROW AND HIS METHODS OF SHOOTING
+
+
+Although much has been written in history and fiction concerning the
+archery of the North American Indian, strange to say, very little has
+been recorded of the methods of manufacture of their weapons, and less
+in accurate records of their shooting.
+
+It is a great privilege to have lived with an unspoiled aborigine and
+seen him step by step construct the most perfect type of bow and arrow.
+
+The workmanship of Ishi was by far the best of any Indian in America;
+compared with thousands of specimens in the museum, his arrows were the
+most carefully and beautifully made; his bow was the best.
+
+It would take too much time to go into the minute details of his work,
+and this has all been recorded in anthropologic records, [1]
+[Footnote 1: See _Yahi Archery_, Vol. 13, No. 3, _Am. Archaeology and
+Ethnology_.]
+but the outlines of his methods are as follows:
+
+The bow, Ishi called _man-nee_. It was a short, flat piece of mountain
+juniper backed with sinew. The length was forty-two inches, or, as he
+measured it, from the horizontally extended hand to the opposite hip.
+It was broadest at the center of each limb, approximately two inches,
+and half an inch thick. The cross-section of this part was elliptical.
+At the center of the bow the handgrip was about an inch and a quarter
+wide by three-quarters thick, a cross-section being ovoid. At the tips
+it was curved gently backward and measured at the nocks three-quarters
+by one-half an inch. The nock itself was square shouldered and
+terminated in a pin half an inch in diameter and an inch long.
+
+The wood was obtained by splitting a limb from a tree and utilizing the
+outer layers, including the sap wood. By scraping and rubbing on
+sandstone, he shaped and finished it. The recurved tips of the bow he
+made by bending the wood backward over a heated stone. Held in shape by
+cords and binding to another piece of wood, he let his bow season in a
+dark, dry place. Here it remained from a few months to years, according
+to his needs. After being seasoned he backed it with sinew. First he
+made a glue by boiling salmon skin and applying it to the roughened
+back of the bow. When it was dry he laid on long strips of deer sinew
+obtained from the leg tendons. By chewing these tendons and separating
+their fibers, they became soft and adhesive. Carefully overlapping the
+ends of the numerous fibers he covered the entire back very thickly. At
+the nocks he surrounded the wood completely and added a circular
+binding about the bow.
+
+During the process of drying he bound the sinew tightly to the bow with
+long, thin strips of willow bark. After several days he removed this
+bandage and smoothed off the edges of the dry sinew, sized the surface
+with more glue and rubbed everything smooth with sandstone. Then he
+bound the handgrip for a space of four inches with a narrow buckskin
+thong.
+
+In his native state he seems never to have greased his bow nor
+protected it from moisture, except by his bow case, which was made of
+the skin from a cougar's tail. But while with us he used shellac to
+protect the glue and wood. Other savages use buck fat or bear grease.
+
+The bowstring he made of the finer tendons from the deer's shank. These
+he chewed until soft, then twisted them tightly into a cord having a
+permanent loop at one end and a buckskin strand at the other. While wet
+the string was tied between two twigs and rubbed smooth with spittle.
+Its diameter was one-eighth of an inch, its length about forty-eight
+inches. When dry the loop was applied to the upper nock of his bow
+while he bent the bow over his knee and wound the opposite end of the
+string about the lower nock. The buckskin thong terminating this
+portion of the string made it easier to tie in several half hitches.
+
+When braced properly the bowstring was about five inches from the belly
+of the bow. And when not in use and unstrung the upper loop was slipped
+entirely off the nock, but held from falling away from the bow by a
+second small loop of buckskin.
+
+Drawn to the full length of an arrow, which was about twenty-six
+inches, exclusive of the foreshaft, his bow bent in a perfect arc
+slightly flattened at the handle. Its pull was about forty-five pounds,
+and it could shoot an arrow about two hundred yards.
+
+This is not the most powerful type of weapon known to Indians, and even
+Ishi did make stronger bows when he pleased; but this seemed to be the
+ideal weight for hunting, and it certainly was adequate in his hands.
+
+According to English standards, it was very short; but for hunting in
+the brush and shooting from crouched postures, it seems better fitted
+for the work than a longer weapon.
+
+According to Ishi, a bow left strung or standing in an upright
+position, gets tired and sweats. When not in use it should be lying
+down; no one should step over it; no child should handle it, and no
+woman should touch it. This brings bad luck and makes it shoot crooked.
+To expunge such an influence it is necessary to wash the bow in sand
+and water.
+
+In his judgment, a good bow made a musical note when strung and the
+string is tapped with the arrow. This was man's first harp, the great
+grandfather of the pianoforte.
+
+By placing one end of his bow at the corner of his open mouth and
+tapping the string with an arrow, the Yana could make sweet music. It
+sounded like an Aeolian harp. To this accompaniment Ishi sang a
+folk-song telling of a great warrior whose bow was so strong that,
+dipping his arrow first in fire, then in the ocean, he shot at the sun.
+As swift as the wind, his arrow flew straight in the round open door of
+the sun and put out its light. Darkness fell upon the earth and men
+shivered with cold. To prevent themselves from freezing they grew
+feathers, and thus our brothers, the birds, were born.
+
+Ishi called an arrow _sa wa_.
+
+In making arrows the first thing is to get the shafts. Ishi used many
+woods, but he preferred witch hazel. The long, straight stems of this
+shrub he cut in lengths of thirty-two inches, having a diameter of
+three-eighths of an inch at the base when peeled of bark.
+
+He bound a number of these together and put them away in a shady place
+to dry. After a week or more, preferably several months, he selected
+the best shafts and straightened them. This he accomplished by holding
+the concave surface near a small heap of hot embers and when warm he
+either pressed his great toe on the opposite side, or he bent the wood
+backward on the base of the thumb. Squinting down its axis he lined up
+the uneven contours one after the other and laid the shaft aside until
+a series of five was completed. He made up arrows in lots of five or
+ten, according to the requirements, his fingers being the measure.
+
+The sticks thus straightened he ran back and forth between two grooved
+pieces of sandstone or revolved them on his thigh while holding the
+stones in his hand, until they were smooth and reduced to a diameter of
+about five-sixteenths of an inch. Next they were cut into lengths of
+approximately twenty-six inches. The larger end was now bound with a
+buckskin thong and drilled out for the depth of an inch and a half to
+receive the end of the foreshaft. He drilled this hole by fixing a
+long, sharp bone in the ground between his great toes and revolved the
+upright shaft between his palms on this fixed point, the buckskin
+binding keeping the wood from splitting.
+
+The foreshaft was made of heavier wood, frequently mountain mahogany.
+It was the same diameter as the arrow, only tapering a trifle toward
+the front end, and usually was about six inches long. This was
+carefully shaped into a spindle at the larger end and set in the
+recently drilled hole of the shaft, using glue or resin for this
+purpose. The joint was bound with chewed sinew, set in glue.
+
+The length of an arrow, over all, was estimated by Ishi in this manner.
+He placed one end on the top of his breast-bone and held the other end
+out in his extended left hand. Where it touched the tip of his
+forefinger it was cut as the proper length. This was about thirty-two
+inches.
+
+The rear end of his arrow was now notched to receive the bowstring. He
+filed it with a bit of obsidian, or later on, with three hacksaw blades
+bound together until he made a groove one-eighth of an inch wide by
+three-eighths deep. The opposite end of the shaft was notched in a
+similar way to receive the head. The direction of this latter cut was
+such that when the arrow was on the bow the edge of the arrowhead was
+perpendicular, for the fancied reason that in this position the arrow
+when shot enters between the ribs of an animal more readily. He did not
+seem to recognize that an arrow rotates.
+
+At this stage he painted his shafts. The pigments used in the wilds
+were red cinnabar, black pigment from the eye of trout, a green
+vegetable dye from wild onions, and a blue obtained, he said, from the
+root of a plant. These were mixed with the sap or resin of trees and
+applied with a little stick or hairs from a fox's tail drawn through a
+quill.
+
+His usual design was a series of alternating rings of green and black
+starting two inches from the rear end and running four inches up the
+shaft. Or he made small circular dots and snaky lines running down the
+shaft for a similar distance. When with us he used dry colors mixed
+with shellac, which he preferred to oil paints because they dried
+quicker. The painted area, intended for the feathers, is called the
+shaftment and not only helps in finding lost arrows, but identifies the
+owner. This entire portion he usually smeared with thin glue or sizing.
+
+A number of shafts having been similarly prepared, the Indian was ready
+to feather them. A feather he called _pu nee_. In fledging arrows Ishi
+used eagle, buzzard, hawk or flicker feathers. Owl feathers Indians
+seem to avoid, thinking they bring bad luck. By preference he took them
+from the wings, but did not hesitate to use tail feathers if reduced to
+it. With us he used turkey pinions.
+
+Grasping one between the heel of his two palms he carefully separated
+the bristles at the tip of the feather with his fingers and pulled them
+apart, splitting the quill its entire length. This is called stripping
+a feather. Taking the wider half he firmly held one end on a rock with
+his great toe, and the other end between the thumb and forefinger of
+his left hand. With a piece of obsidian, or later on a knife blade, he
+scraped away the pith until the rib was thin and flat.
+
+Having prepared a sufficient number in this way he gathered them in
+groups of three, all from similar wings, tied them with a bit of string
+and dropped them in a vessel of water. When thoroughly wet and limp
+they were ready for use.
+
+While he chewed up a strand of sinew eight or ten inches long, he
+picked up a group of feathers, stripped off the water, removed one, and
+after testing its strength, folded the last two inches of bristles down
+on the rib, and the rest he ruffled backward, thus leaving a free space
+for later binding. He prepared all three like this.
+
+Picking up an arrow shaft he clamped it between his left arm and chest,
+holding the rear end above the shaftment in his left hand. Twirling it
+slowly in this position, he applied one end of the sinew near the nock,
+fixing it by overlapping. The first movements were accomplished while
+holding one extremity of the sinew in his teeth; later, having applied
+the feathers to the stick, he shifted the sinew to the grasp of the
+right thumb and forefinger.
+
+One by one he laid the feathers in position, binding down the last two
+inches of stem and the wet barbs together. The first feather he applied
+on a line perpendicular to the plane of the nock; the two others were
+equidistant from this. For the space of an inch he lapped the sinew
+about the feathers and arrow-shaft, slowly rotating it all the while, at
+last smoothing the binding with his thumb nail.
+
+The rear ends having been lashed in position, the arrow was set aside
+to dry while the rest were prepared.
+
+Five or ten having reached this stage and the binding being dry and
+secure, he took one again between his left arm and chest, and with his
+right hand drew all the feathers straight and taut, down the shaft.
+Here he held them with the fingers of his left hand. Having marked a
+similar place on each arrow where the sinew was to go, he cut the
+bristles off the rib. At this point he started binding with another
+piece of wet sinew. After a few turns he drew the feathers taut again
+and cut them, leaving about a half inch of rib. This he bound down
+completely to the arrow-shaft and finished all by smoothing the wet
+lapping with his thumb nail.
+
+The space between the rib and the wood he sometimes smeared with more
+glue to cause the feather to adhere to the shaft, but this was not the
+usual custom with him. After all was dry and firm, Ishi took the arrow
+and beat it gently across his palm so that the feathers spread out
+nicely.
+
+As a rule the length of his feathers was four inches, though on
+ceremonial arrows they often were as long as eight inches.
+
+After drying, the feathers were cut with a sharp piece of obsidian,
+using a straight stick as a guide and laying the arrow on a flat piece
+of wood. When with us he trimmed them with scissors, making a straight
+cut from the full width of the feather in back, to the height of a
+quarter of an inch at the forward extremity. On his arrows he left the
+natural curve of the feather at the nock, and while the rear binding
+started an inch or more from the butt of the arrow, the feather drooped
+over the nock. This gave a pretty effect and seemed to add to the
+steering qualities of the missile.
+
+Two kinds of points were used on Ishi's arrows. One was the simple
+blunt end of the shaft bound with sinew used for killing small game and
+practice shots. The other was his hunting head, made of flint or
+obsidian. He preferred the latter.
+
+Obsidian was used as money among the natives of California. A boulder
+of this volcanic glass was packed from some mountainous districts and
+pieces were cracked off and exchanged for dried fish, venison, or
+weapons. It was a medium of barter. Although all men were more or less
+expert in flaking arrowheads and knives, the better grades of bows,
+arrows, and arrow points were made by the older, more expert
+specialists of the tribe.
+
+Ishi often referred to one old Indian, named _Chu no wa yahi_, who
+lived at the base of a great cliff with his crazy wife. This man owned
+an ax, and thus was famous for his possessions as well as his skill as
+a maker of bows. From a distant mountain crest one day Ishi pointed out
+to me the camp of this Indian who was long since dead. If ever Ishi
+wished to refer to a hero of the bow, or having been beaten in a shot,
+he always told us what _Chu no wa yahi_ could have done.
+
+To make arrowheads properly one should smear his face with mud and sit
+out in the hot sun in a quiet secluded spot. The mud is a precaution
+against harm from the flying chips of glass, possibly also a good luck
+ritual. If by chance a bit of glass should fly in the eye, Ishi's
+method of surgical relief was to hold his lower lid wide open with one
+finger while he slapped himself violently on the head with the other
+hand. I am inclined to ascribe the process of removal more to the
+hydraulic effect of the tears thus started than to the mechanical jar
+of the treatment.
+
+He began this work by taking one chunk of obsidian and throwing it
+against another; several small pieces were thus shattered off. One of
+these, approximately three inches long, two inches wide and half an
+inch thick, was selected as suitable for an arrowhead, or _haka_.
+Protecting the palm of his left hand by a piece of thick buckskin, Ishi
+placed a piece of obsidian flat upon it, holding it firmly with his
+fingers folded over it.
+
+In his right hand he held a short stick on the end of which was lashed
+a sharp piece of deer horn. Grasping the horn firmly while the longer
+extremity lay beneath his forearm, he pressed the point of the horn
+against the edge of the obsidian. Without jar or blow, a flake of glass
+flew off, as large as a fish scale. Repeating this process at various
+spots on the intended head, turning it from side to side, first
+reducing one face, then the other, he soon had a symmetrical point. In
+half an hour he could make the most graceful and perfectly proportioned
+arrowhead imaginable. The little notches fashioned to hold the sinew
+binding below the barbs he shaped with a smaller piece of bone, while
+the arrowhead was held on the ball of his thumb.
+
+Flint, plate glass, old bottle glass, onyx--all could be worked with
+equal facility. Beautiful heads were fashioned from blue bottles and
+beer bottles.
+
+The general size of these points was two inches for length,
+seven-eighths for width, and one-eighth for thickness. Larger heads
+were used for war and smaller ones for shooting bears.
+
+Such a head, of course, was easily broken if the archer missed his
+shot. This made him very careful about the whole affair of shooting.
+
+When ready for use, these heads were set on the end of the shaft with
+heated resin and bound in place with sinew which encircled the end of
+the arrow and crossed diagonally through the barb notches with many
+recurrences.
+
+Such a point has better cutting qualities in animal tissue than has
+steel. The latter is, of course, more durable. After entering
+civilization, Ishi preferred to use iron or steel blades of the same
+general shape, or having a short tang for insertion in the arrowhead.
+
+Ishi carried anywhere from five to sixty arrows in a quiver made of
+otter skin which hung suspended by a loop of buckskin over his left
+shoulder.
+
+His method of bracing or stringing the bow was as follows: Grasping it
+with his right hand at its center, with the belly toward him, and the
+lower end on his right thigh, he held the upper end with his left hand
+while the loop of the string rested between his finger and thumb. By
+pressing downward at the handle and pulling upward with the left hand
+he so sprung the bow that the loop of the cord could be slipped over
+the upper nock.
+
+[Illustration: ISHI AND APPERSON, THE GUIDE, ONCE OLD ENEMIES, NOW
+FRIENDS]
+
+[Illustration: CALLING GAME IN AMBUSH]
+
+[Illustration: THE INDIAN'S FAVORITE SHOOTING POSITION]
+
+[Illustration: CHOPPING OUT A JUNIPER BOW]
+
+In nocking his arrow, the bow was held diagonally across the body, its
+upper end pointing to the left. It was held lightly in the palm of the
+left hand so that it rested loosely in the notch of the thumb while the
+fingers partially surrounded the handle. Taking an arrow from his
+quiver, he laid it across the bow on its right side where it lay
+between the extended fingers of his left hand. He gently slid the arrow
+forward until the nock slipped over the string at its center. Here he
+set it properly in place and put his right thumb under the string,
+hooked upward ready to pull. At the same time he flexed his forefinger
+against the side of the arrow, and the second finger was placed on the
+thumb nail to strengthen the pull.
+
+Thus he accomplished what is known as the Mongolian release.
+
+Only a few nations ever used this type of arrow release, and the Yana
+seem to have been the only American natives to do so. [2]
+[Footnote 2: See Morse on _Arrow Release_.]
+
+To draw his bow he extended his left arm. At the same time he pulled
+his right hand toward him. The bow arm was almost in front of him,
+while his right hand drew to the top of his breast bone. With both eyes
+open he sighted along his shaft and estimated the elevation according
+to the distance to be shot.
+
+He released firmly and without change of position until the arrow hit.
+He preferred to shoot kneeling or squatting, for this was most
+favorable for getting game.
+
+His shooting distances were from ten yards up to fifty. Past this range
+he did not think one should shoot, but sought rather to approach his
+game more closely.
+
+In his native state he practiced shooting at little oak balls, or
+bundles of grass bound to represent rabbits, or little hoops of willow
+rolled along the ground. Like all other archers, if Ishi missed a shot
+he always had a good excuse. There was too much wind, or the arrow was
+crooked, or the bow had lost its cast, or, as a last resource, the
+coyote doctor bewitched him, which is the same thing we mean when we
+say it is just bad luck. While with us he shot at the regulation straw
+target, and he is the first and only Indian of whose shooting any
+accurate records have been made.
+
+Many exaggerated reports exist concerning the accuracy of the shooting
+of American Indians; but here we have one who shot ever since
+childhood, who lived by hunting, and must have been as good, if not
+better, than the average.
+
+He taught us to shoot Indian style at first, but later we learned the
+old English methods and found them superior to the Indian. At the end
+of three months' practice, Dr. J. V. Cooke and I could shoot as well as
+Ishi at targets, but he could surpass us at game shooting.
+
+Ishi never thought very much of our long bows. He always said, "Too
+much _man-nee_." And he always insisted that arrows should be painted
+red and green.
+
+But when we began beating him at targets, he took all his shafts home
+and scraped the paint off them, putting back rings of blue and yellow,
+doubtless to change his luck. In spite of our apparent superiority at
+some forms of shooting, he never changed his methods to meet
+competition. We, of course, did not want him to.
+
+Small objects the size of a quail the Indian could hit with regularity
+up to twenty yards. And I have seen him kill ground squirrels at forty
+yards; yet at the same distances he might miss a four-foot target. He
+explained this by saying that the target was too large and the bright
+colored rings diverted the attention. He was right.
+
+There is a regular system of shooting in archery competition. In
+America there is what is known as the American Round, which consists of
+shooting thirty arrows at each of the following distances: sixty,
+fifty, and forty yards. The bull's-eye on the target is a trifle over
+nine inches and is surrounded by four rings of half this diameter.
+Their value is 9, 7, 5, 3, 1, successively counting from the center
+outward. The target itself is constructed of straw, bound in the form
+of a mat four feet in diameter, covered with a canvas facing.
+
+Counting the hits and scores on the various distances, a good archer
+will make the following record. Here is Arthur Young's best score:
+
+March 25, 1917.
+
+At 60 yards        30 hits    190 score    11 golds
+   50 yards        30 hits    198 score     9 golds
+   40 yards        30 hits    238 score    17 golds
+
+   Total           90 hits    626 score    37 golds
+
+This is one of the best scores made by American archers.
+
+Ishi's best record is as follows:
+
+October 23, 1914.
+
+At 60 yards        10 hits     32 score
+   50 yards        20 hits     92 score     2 golds
+   40 yards        19 hits     99 score     2 golds
+
+   Total           49 hits    223 score     4 golds
+
+His next best score was this:
+
+At 60 yards        13 hits     51 score
+   50 yards        17 hits     59 score
+   40 yards        22 hits     95 score
+
+   Total           52 hits    205 score
+
+My own best practice American round is as follows:
+
+May 22, 1917.
+
+At 60 yards        29 hits    157 score
+   50 yards        29 hits    185 score
+   40 yards        30 hits    196 score
+
+   Total           88 hits    538 score
+
+Anything over 500 is considered good shooting.
+
+It will be seen from this that the Indian was not a good target shot,
+but in field shooting and getting game, probably he could excel the
+white man.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+
+ISHI'S METHODS OF HUNTING
+
+
+Hunting with Ishi was pure joy. Bow in hand, he seemed to be
+transformed into a being light as air and as silent as falling snow.
+From the very first we went on little expeditions into the country
+where, without appearing to instruct, he was my teacher in the old, old
+art of the chase. I followed him into a new system of getting game. We
+shot rabbits, quail, and squirrels with the bow. His methods here were
+not so well defined as in the approach to larger game, but I was struck
+from the first by his noiseless step, his slow movements, his use of
+cover. These little animals are flushed by sound and sight, not scent.
+Another prominent feature of Ishi's work in the field was his
+indefatigable persistence. He never gave up when he knew a rabbit was
+in a clump of brush. Time meant nothing to him; he simply stayed until
+he got his game. He would watch a squirrel hole for an hour if
+necessary, but he always got the squirrel.
+
+He made great use of the game call. We all know of duck and turkey
+calls, but when he told me that he lured rabbits, tree squirrels,
+wildcats, coyote, and bear to him, I thought he was romancing. Going
+along the trail, he would stop and say, "_Ineja teway--bjum--metchi bi
+wi_," or "This is good rabbit ground." Then crouching behind a suitable
+bush as a blind, he would place the fingers of his right hand against
+his lips and, going through the act of kissing, he produced a plaintive
+squeak similar to that given by a rabbit caught by a hawk or in mortal
+distress. This he repeated with heartrending appeals until suddenly one
+or two or sometimes three rabbits appeared in the opening. They came
+from distances of a hundred yards or more, hopped forward, stopped and
+listened, hopped again, listened, and ultimately came within ten or
+fifteen yards while Ishi dragged out his squeak in a most pathetic
+manner. Then he would shoot.
+
+To test his ability one afternoon while hunting deer, I asked the Yana
+to try his call in twelve separate locations. From these twelve calls
+we had five jackrabbits and one wildcat approach us. The cat came out
+of the forest, cautiously stepped nearer and sat upon a log in a bright
+open space not more than fifty yards away while I shot three arrows at
+him, one after the other; the last clipped him between the ears.
+
+This call being a cry of distress, rabbits and squirrels come with the
+idea of protecting their young. They run around in a circle, stamp
+their feet, and make great demonstrations of anger, probably as much to
+attract the attention of the supposed predatory beast and decoy him
+away, as anything else.
+
+The cat, the coyote, and the bear come for no such humane motive; they
+are thinking of food, of joining the feast.
+
+I learned the call myself, not perfectly, but well enough to bring
+squirrels down from the topmost branches of tall pines, to have foxes
+and lynx approach me, and to get rabbits.
+
+Not only could Ishi call the animals, but he understood their language.
+Often when we have been hunting he has stopped and said, "The squirrel
+is scolding a fox." At first I said to him, "I don't believe you." Then
+he would say, "Wait! Look!" Hiding behind a tree or rock or bush, in a
+few minutes we would see a fox trot across the open forest.
+
+It seemed that for a hawk or cat or man, the squirrel has a different
+call, such that Ishi could say without seeing, what molested his little
+brother.
+
+Often have we stopped and rested because, so he said, a bluejay called
+far and wide, "Here comes a man!" There was no use going farther, the
+animals all knew of our presence. Only a white hunter would advance
+under these circumstances.
+
+Ishi could smell deer, cougar, and foxes like an animal, and often
+discovered them first this way. He could imitate the call of quail to
+such an extent that he spoke a half-dozen sentences to them. He knew
+the crow of the cock on sentinel duty when he signals to others; he
+knew the cry of warning, and the run-to-shelter cry of the hen; her
+command to her little ones to fly; and the "lie low" cluck; then at
+last the "all's well" chirp.
+
+Deer he could call in the fawn season by placing a folded leaf between
+his lips and sucking vigorously. This made a bleat such as a lamb
+gives, or a boy makes blowing on a blade of grass between his thumbs.
+
+He also enticed deer by means of a stuffed buck's head which he wore as
+a cap, and bobbing up and down behind bushes excited their curiosity
+until they approached within bow-shot. Ordinarily in hunting deer, the
+Indian used what is termed the still hunt, but with him it was more
+than that. First of all he studied the country for its formation of
+hills, ridges, valleys, canyons, brush and timber. He observed the
+direction of the prevailing winds, the position of the sun at daybreak
+and evening. He noted the water holes, game trails, "buck look-outs,"
+deer beds, the nature of the feeding grounds, the stage of the moon,
+the presence of salt licks, and many other features of importance. If
+possible, he located the hiding-place of the old bucks in daytime, all
+of which every careful hunter does. Next, he observed the habits of
+game, and the presence or absence of predatory beasts that kill deer.
+
+Having decided these and other questions, he prepared for the hunt. He
+would eat no fish the day before the hunt, and smoke no tobacco, for
+these odors are detected a great way off. He rose early, bathed in the
+creek, rubbed himself with the aromatic leaves of yerba buena, washed
+out his mouth, drank water, but ate no food. Dressed in a loin cloth,
+but without shirt, leggings or moccasins, he set out, bow and quiver at
+his side. He said that clothing made too much noise in the brush, and
+naturally one is more cautious in his movements when reminded by his
+sensitive hide that he is touching a sharp twig.
+
+From the very edge of camp, until he returned, he was on the alert for
+game, and the one obvious element of his mental attitude was that he
+suspected game everywhere. He saw a hundred objects that looked like
+deer, to every live animal in reality. He took it for granted that ten
+deer see you where you see one--so see it first! On the trail, it was a
+crime to speak. His warning note was a soft, low whistle or a hiss. As
+he walked, he placed every footfall with precise care; the most
+stealthy step I ever saw; he was used to it; lived by it. For every
+step he looked twice. When going over a rise of ground he either
+stooped, crawled or let just his eyes go over the top, then stopped and
+gazed a long time for the slightest moving twig or spot of color. Of
+course, he always hunted up wind, unless he were cutting across country
+or intended to flush game.
+
+At sunrise and sunset he tried always to get between the sun and his
+game. He drifted between the trees like a shadow, expectant and nerved
+for immediate action.
+
+Some Indians, covering their heads with tall grass, can creep up on
+deer in the open, and rising suddenly to a kneeling posture shoot at a
+distance of ten or fifteen yards. But Ishi never tried this before me.
+Having located his quarry, he either shot, at suitable ranges, or made
+a detour to wait the passing of the game or to approach it from a more
+favorable direction. He never used dogs in hunting.
+
+When a number of people hunted together, Ishi would hide behind a blind
+at the side of a deer trail and let the others run the deer past. In
+his country we saw old piles of rock covered with lichen and moss that
+were less than twenty yards from well-marked deer trails. For
+numberless years Indians had used these as blinds to secure camp meat.
+
+In the same necessity, the Indian would lie in wait near licks or
+springs to get his food; but he never killed wantonly.
+
+Although Ishi took me on many deer hunts and we had several shots at
+deer, owing to the distance or the fall of the ground or obstructing
+trees, we registered nothing better than encouraging misses. He was
+undoubtedly hampered by the presence of a novice, and unduly hastened
+by the white man's lack of time. His early death prevented our ultimate
+achievement in this matter, so it was only after he had gone to the
+Happy Hunting Grounds that I, profiting by his teachings, killed my
+first deer with the bow.
+
+That he had shot many deer, even since boyhood, there was no doubt. To
+prove that he could shoot through one with his arrows, I had him
+discharge several at a buck killed by our packer. Shooting at forty
+yards, one arrow went through the chest wall, half its length; another
+struck the spine and fractured it, both being mortal wounds.
+
+It was the custom of his tribe to hunt until noon, when by that time
+they usually had several deer, obtained, as a rule, by the ambush
+method. Having pre-arranged the matter, the women appeared on the
+scene, cut up the meat, cooked part of it, principally the liver and
+heart, and they had a feast on the spot. The rest was taken to camp and
+made into jerky.
+
+In skinning animals, the Indian used an obsidian knife held in his hand
+by a piece of buckskin. I found this cut better than the average
+hunting knife sold to sportsmen. Often in skinning rabbits he would
+make a small hole in the skin over the abdomen and blow into this,
+stripping the integument free from the body and inflating it like a
+football, except at the legs.
+
+In skinning the tail of an animal, he used a split stick to strip it
+down, and did it so dextrously that it was a revelation of how easy
+this otherwise difficult process may be when one knows how. He tanned
+his skins in the way customary with most savages: clean skinning, brain
+emulsion, and plenty of elbow grease.
+
+[Illustration: OUR CARAVAN LEAVING DEER CREEK CANYON]
+
+[Illustration: ISHI FLAKING AN OBSIDIAN ARROW HEAD]
+
+[Illustration: THE INDIAN AND A DEER]
+
+His people killed bear with the bow and arrow. Ishi made a distinction
+between grizzly bear, which he called _tet na_, and black bear, which
+he called _bo he_. The former had long claws, could not climb trees,
+and feared nothing. He was to be let alone. The other was "all same
+pig." The black bear, when found, was surrounded by a dozen or more
+Indians who built fires, and discharging their arrows at his open
+mouth, attempted to kill him. If he charged, a burning brand was
+snatched from the fire and thrust in his face while the others shot him
+from the side. Thus they wore him down and at last vanquished him.
+
+In his youth, Ishi killed a cinnamon bear single handed. Finding it
+asleep on a ledge of rock, he sneaked close to it and gave a loud
+whistle. The bear rose up on its hind legs and Ishi shot him through
+the chest. With a roar the bear fell off the ledge and the Indian
+jumped after him. With a short-handled obsidian spear he thrust him
+through the heart. The skin of this bear now hangs in the Museum of
+Anthropology in mute testimony of the courage and daring of Ishi. Had
+this young man been given a name, perhaps they would have called him
+Yellow Bear.
+
+While he shot many birds, I never saw Ishi try wing shooting except at
+eagles or hawks. For these he would use an arrow on which he had
+smeared mud to make it dark in color. A light shaft is readily
+discerned by these birds, and I have often seen them dodge an arrow.
+But the darker one is almost invisible head on. The feathers of the
+arrows were close cropped to make them swift and noiseless.
+
+The sound of a bowstring is that of a sharp twang accompanied by a
+muffled crack. To avoid this and make a silent shot, the Indian bound
+his bow at the nocks with weasel fur; this effectually damped the
+vibration of the string, while the passage of the arrow across the bow,
+which gives the slight crack, is abolished by a heavy padding of
+buckskin at this point.
+
+Ishi never wore an arm guard or glove or finger stalls to protect
+himself as other archers do. He seemed not to need them. When he
+released the arrow, the bow rotated in his hand so that the string
+faced in the opposite direction from which it started. His thumb alone
+drew the string, and this was so toughened that it needed no leather
+covering.
+
+In a little bag he carried extra arrowheads and sinews, so that in a
+pinch he could mend his arrows.
+
+When not actually in use, he promptly unstrung his bow, and gently
+straightened it by hand. In cold weather he heated it over a fire
+before bracing it. The slightest moisture would deter him from
+shooting, unless absolutely necessary--he was so jealous of his tackle.
+If his bowstring stretched in the heat or dampness, as sinew is liable
+to do, he shortened it by twisting one end prior to bracing it.
+
+Before shooting he invariably looked over each arrow, straightened it
+in his hands or by his teeth, re-arranged its feathers, and saw that
+the point was properly adjusted. In fact, he gave infinite attention to
+detail. With him, every shot must count. Besides arrows in his quiver,
+he carried several ready for use under his right arm, which he kept
+close to his side while drawing the bow.
+
+In all things pertaining to the handicraft of archery and the technique
+of shooting, he was most exacting. Neatness about his tackle, care of
+his equipment, deliberation and form in his shooting were typical of
+him; in fact, he loved his bow as he did no other of his possessions.
+It was his constant companion in life and he took it with him on his
+last long journey.
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+
+ARCHERY IN GENERAL
+
+
+Our experience with Ishi waked the love of archery in us, that impulse
+which lies dormant in the heart of every Anglo-Saxon. For it is a
+strange thing that all the men who have centered about this renaissance
+in shooting the bow, in our immediate locality, are of English
+ancestry. Their names betray them. Many have come and watched and shot
+a little, and gone away; but these have stayed to hunt.
+
+From shooting the bow Indian fashion, I turned to the study of its
+history, and soon found that the English were its greatest masters. In
+them archery reached its high tide; after them its glory passed.
+
+But the earliest evidence of the use of the bow is found in the
+existence of arrowheads assigned to the third interglacial period,
+nearly 50,000 years ago.
+
+That man had material culture prior to this epoch, there is no doubt,
+and the use of the bow with arrows of less complicated structure must
+have preceded this period.
+
+All races and nations at one time or another have used the bow. Even
+the Australian aborigine, who is supposed to have been too low in
+mental development to have understood the principles of archery, used a
+miniature bow and poisoned arrow in shooting game. In the magnificent
+collection of Joseph Jessop of San Diego, California, I saw one of
+these little bows scarcely more than a foot long. The arrows, he
+stated, the natives carried in the hair of their heads.
+
+Those who are interested in the archaeology of the bow should read the
+volume on archery of the Badminton Library by Longmans.
+
+Various peoples have excelled in shooting, notably the Japanese, the
+Turks, the Scythians, and the English. Others have not been suited by
+temperament to use the bow. The Latins, the Peruvians, and the Irish
+seem never to have been toxophilites. The famous long bow of Merrie Old
+England was brought there by the Normans, who inherited it from the
+Norsemen settled along the Rhine. Here grew the best yew trees in days
+gone by, and this, doubtless, was a strong determining factor in the
+superior development of their archery.
+
+Before the battle of Hastings, the Saxons used the short, weak weapon
+common to all primitive people. The conquered Saxon, deprived of all
+arms such as the boar-spear, the sword, the ax, and the dagger,
+naturally turned to the bow because he could make this himself, and he
+copied the Norman long bow.
+
+Although the first game preserves in England were established by
+William the Conqueror at this time, the Saxon was permitted to shoot
+birds and small beasts in his fields and therefore was allowed to use a
+blunt arrow, headed with a lead tip or pilum, hence our term pile, or
+target point. If found with a sharp arrowhead, the so-called broad-head
+used for killing the king's deer, he was promptly hanged. The evidence
+against such a poacher was summed up thus in the old legend:
+
+  Dog draw, stable stand
+  Back berond, bloody hand.
+
+One found following a questing hound, posed in the stand of an archer,
+carrying game on his back, or with the evidence of recent butchery on
+his hands, was hanged to the nearest tree by his own bowstring.
+
+It was under these circumstances that outlawry took the form of deer
+killing and robust archery became the national sport. In these days the
+legendary hero, the demi-myth, Robin Hood, was born. What boy has not
+thrilled at the tales of Greenwood men, the well-sped shaft, the
+arrow's low whispering flight, and the willow wand split at a hundred
+paces?
+
+Every boy goes through a period of barbarism, just as the nations have
+passed, and during that age he is stirred by the call of the bow. I,
+too, shot the toy bows of boyhood; shot with Indian youths in the Army
+posts of Texas and Arizona. We played the impromptu pageants of Robin
+Hood, manufactured our own tackle, and carried it about with unfailing
+fidelity; hunted small birds and rabbits, and were the usual savages of
+that age.
+
+But when it comes to the legends of the bow, the records of these past
+glories are so vague that we must accept them as a tale oft told; it
+grows with the telling.
+
+It seems that distances were measured in feet, paces, yards, or rods
+with blithe indifference, and the narrator added to them at will. Robin
+is supposed to have shot a mile, and his bow was so long and so strong
+no man could draw it. In sooth, he was a mighty hero, and yet the
+ballads refer to him as a "slight fellow," even "a bag of bones." As a
+youth he slew the king's deer at three hundred yards, a right goodly
+shot! And no doubt it was.
+
+Of all the bows of the days when archery was in flower, only two
+remain. These are unfinished staves found in the ship _Mary Rose_, sunk
+off the coast of Albion in 1545. This vessel having been raised from
+the bottom of the ocean in 1841, the staves were recovered and are now
+in the Tower of London. They are six feet, four and three-quarters
+inches long, one and one-half inches across the handle, one and one-
+quarter inches thick, and proportionately large throughout. The
+dimensions are recorded in Badminton. Of course, they never have been
+tested for strength, but it has been estimated at 100 pounds.
+
+Determined to duplicate these old bows, I selected a very fine grained
+stave of seasoned yew and made an exact duplicate, according to the
+recorded measurements.
+
+This bow, when drawn the standard arrow length of twenty-eight inches,
+weighed sixty-five pounds and shot a light flight arrow two hundred and
+twenty-five yards. When drawn thirty-six inches, it weighed seventy-six
+pounds and shot a flight arrow two hundred and fifty-six yards. From
+this it would seem that even though these ancient staves appear to be
+almost too powerful for a modern man to draw, they not only are well
+within our command, but do not shoot a mile.
+
+The greatest distance shot by a modern archer was made by Ingo Simon,
+using a Turkish composite bow, in France in 1913. The measured distance
+was four hundred and fifty-nine yards and eight inches. That is very
+near the limit of this type of bow and far beyond the possibilities of
+the yew long bow. But the long bow is capable of shooting heavier
+shafts and shooting them harder.
+
+Since archery is fast disappearing from the land, and the material for
+study will soon become extinct, I have undertaken to record the
+strength and shooting qualities of a representative number of the
+available bows in preservation, together with the power of penetration
+of arrows.
+
+To do this, through the mediation of the Department of Anthropology of
+the University of California, I have had access to the best collection
+of bows in America. Thousands of weapons were at my disposal in various
+museums, and from these I selected the best preserved and strongest to
+shoot.
+
+The formal report of these experiments is in the publications of the
+University, and here 'tis only necessary to mention a few of the
+findings.
+
+In testing the function of these bows and their ability to shoot, a
+bamboo flight arrow made by Ishi was used as the standard. It was
+thirty inches long, weighed three hundred and ten grains, and had very
+low cropped feathers. It carried universally better than all other
+arrows tested, and flew twenty per cent farther than the best English
+flight arrows.
+
+To make sure that no element of personal weakness entered into the
+test, I had these bows shot by Mr. Compton, a very powerful man and one
+used to the bow for thirty years. I myself could draw them all, and
+checked up the results.
+
+It is axiomatic that the weight and the cast of a bow are criteria of
+its value as a weapon in war or in the chase. Weight, as used by an
+archer, means the pull of a bow when full drawn, recorded in pounds.
+
+The following is a partial list of those weighed and shot. They are, of
+course, all genuine bows and represent the strongest. Each was shot at
+least six times over a carefully measured course and the greatest
+flight recorded. All flights were made at an elevation of forty-five
+degrees and the greatest possible draw was given each shot. In fact we
+spared no bows because of their age, and consequently broke two in the
+testing.
+
+                                 Weight     Distance Shot
+    Alaskan....................... 80 pounds    180 yards
+    Apache........................ 28  "        120  "
+    Blackfoot..................... 45  "        145  "
+    Cheyenne...................... 65  "        156  "
+    Cree.......................... 38  "        150  "
+    Esquimaux..................... 80  "        200  "
+    Hupa.......................... 40  "        148  "
+    Luiseno....................... 48  "        125  "
+    Navajo........................ 45  "        150  "
+    Mojave........................ 40  "        110  "
+    Osage......................... 40  "         92  "
+    Sioux......................... 45  "        165  "
+    Tomawata...................... 40  "        148  "
+    Yurok......................... 30  "        140  "
+    Yukon......................... 60  "        125  "
+    Yaki.......................... 70  "        210  "
+    Yana.......................... 48  "        205  "
+
+The list of foreign bows is as follows:
+
+                                   Weight     Distance Shot
+    Paraguay...................... 60 pounds    170 yards
+    Polynesian.................... 49  "        172  "
+    Nigrito....................... 56  "        176  "
+    Andaman Islands................45  "        142  "
+    Japanese.......................48  "        175  "
+    Africa.........................54  "        107  "
+    Tartar.........................98  "        175  "
+    South American.................50  "         98  "
+    Igorrote.......................26  "        100  "
+    Solomon Islands................56  "        148  "
+    English target bow (imported)..48  "        220  "
+    English yew flight bow.........65  "        300  "
+    Old English hunting bow........75  "        250  "
+
+
+It will be seen from these tests that no existing aboriginal bow is
+very powerful when compared with those in use in the days of robust
+archery in old England.
+
+The greatest disappointment was in the Tartar bow which was brought
+expressly from Shansi, China, by my brother, Col. B. H. Pope. With this
+powerful weapon I expected to shoot a quarter of a mile; but with all
+its dreadful strength, its cast was slow and cumbersome. The arrow that
+came with it, a miniature javelin thirty-eight inches long, could only
+be projected one hundred and ten yards. In making these shots both
+hands and feet were used to draw the bow. A special flight arrow
+thirty-six inches long was used in the test, but with hardly any
+increase of distance gained.
+
+After much experimenting and research into the literature, [1]
+[Footnote 1: Balfour, _Composite Bows_.]
+I constructed two horn composite bows, such as were used by the Turks
+and Egyptians. They were perfect in action, the larger one weighing
+eighty-five pounds. With this I hoped to establish a record, but after
+many attempts my best flight was two hundred and ninety-one yards. This
+weapon, being only four feet long, would make an excellent buffalo bow
+to be used on horseback.
+
+In shooting for distance, of course, a very light missile is used, and
+nothing but empirical tests can determine the shape, size, and weight
+that suits each bow. Consequently, we use hundreds of arrows to find
+the best. For more than seven years these experiments have continued,
+and at this stage of our progress the best flight arrow is made of
+Japanese bamboo five-sixteenths of an inch in diameter, having a
+foreshaft of birch the same diameter and four inches long. The nock is
+a boxwood plug inserted in the rear end, both joints being bound with
+silk floss and shellacked. The point is the copper nickel jacket of the
+present U. S. Army rifle bullet, of conical shape. The feathers are
+parabolic, three-quarters of an inch long by one-quarter high, three in
+number, set one inch from the end, and come from the wing of an owl.
+The whole arrow is thirty inches long, weighs three hundred and twenty
+grains, and is very rigid.
+
+With this I have shot three hundred and one yards with a moderate wind
+at my back, using a Paraguay ironwood bow five feet two inches long,
+backed with hickory and weighing sixty pounds. This is my best flight
+shot.
+
+It is not advisable here to go further into this subject; let it stand
+that the English yew long bow is the highest type of artillery in the
+world.
+
+Although the composite Turkish bows can shoot the farthest, it is only
+with very light arrows; they are incapable of projecting heavier shafts
+to the extent of the yew long bow, that is, they can transmit velocity
+but not momentum; they have resiliency, but not power.
+
+Besides these experiments with bows, many tests were made of the flight
+and penetration of arrows. A few of the pertinent observations are here
+noted.
+
+A light arrow from a heavy bow, say a sixty-five pound yew bow, travels
+at an initial velocity of one hundred and fifty feet per second, as
+determined by a stopwatch.
+
+Shooting at one hundred yards, such an arrow is discharged at an angle
+of eight degrees, and describes a parabola twelve to fifteen feet high
+at its crest. Its time in transit is of approximately two and one-fifth
+seconds.
+
+Shooting straight up, such an arrow goes about three hundred and fifty
+feet high, and requires eight seconds for the round trip. This test was
+made by shooting arrows over very tall sequoia trees, of known height.
+
+The striking force of a one-ounce arrow shot from a seventy-five pound
+bow at ten yards, is twenty-five foot pounds. This test is made by
+shooting at a cake of paraffin and comparing the penetration with that
+made by falling weights. Such a striking force is, of course,
+insignificant when compared with that of a modern bullet, viz., three
+thousand foot pounds. Yet the damage done by an arrow armed with a
+sharp steel broad-head is often greater than that done by a bullet, as
+we shall see later on.
+
+A standard English target arrow rotates during flight six complete
+revolutions every twenty yards, or approximately fifteen times a
+second. Heavy hunting shafts turn more slowly. This was ascertained by
+shooting two arrows at once from the same bow, their shafts being
+connected by a silk thread, so that one paid off as the other wound up
+the thread. The number of complete loops, of course, indicated the
+number of revolutions. A sand-bank makes a good butt to catch them. In
+rotating, much depends on the size and shape of the feather.
+
+Shooting a blunt arrow from a seventy-five pound bow at a white pine
+board an inch thick, the shaft will often go completely through it. A
+broad hunting head will penetrate two or three inches, then bind. But
+the broad-head will go through animal tissue better, even cutting bones
+in two; in fact, such an arrow will go completely through any animal
+but a pachyderm.
+
+To test a steel bodkin pointed arrow such as was used at the battle of
+Cressy, I borrowed a shirt of chain armor from the Museum, a beautiful
+specimen made in Damascus in the 15th Century. It weighed twenty-five
+pounds and was in perfect condition. One of the attendants in the
+Museum offered to put it on and allow me to shoot at him. Fortunately,
+I declined his proffered services and put it on a wooden box, padded
+with burlap to represent clothing.
+
+Indoors at a distance of seven yards, I discharged an arrow at it with
+such force that sparks flew from the links of steel as from a forge.
+The bodkin point and shaft went through the thickest portion of the
+back, penetrated an inch of wood and bulged out the opposite side of
+the armor shirt. The attendant turned a pale green. An arrow of this
+type can be shot about two hundred yards, and would be deadly up to the
+full limit of its flight.
+
+The question of the cutting qualities of the obsidian head as compared
+to those of the sharpened steel head, was answered in the following
+experiment:
+
+A box was so constructed that two opposite sides were formed by fresh
+deer skin tacked in place. The interior of the box was filled with
+bovine liver. This represented animal tissue minus the bones.
+
+At a distance of ten yards I discharged an obsidian-pointed arrow and a
+steel-pointed arrow from a weak bow. The two missiles were alike in
+size, weight, and feathering, in fact, were made by Ishi, only one had
+the native head and the other his modern substitute. Upon repeated
+trials, the steel-headed arrow uniformly penetrated a distance of
+twenty-two inches from the front surface of the box, while the obsidian
+uniformly penetrated thirty inches, or eight inches farther,
+approximately 25 per cent better penetration. This advantage is
+undoubtedly due to the concoidal edge of the flaked glass operating
+upon the same principle that fluted-edged bread and bandage knives cut
+better than ordinary knives.
+
+In the same way we discovered that steel broad-heads sharpened by
+filing have a better meat-cutting edge than when ground on a stone.
+
+In our experience with game shooting, we never could see the advantage
+of longitudinal grooves running down the shaft of the arrow, such as
+some aborigines use, supposed to promote bleeding. In the first place
+these marks are inadequate in depth, and secondly it is not the
+exterior bleeding that kills the wounded animal so much as the internal
+hemorrhage.
+
+A sufficiently wide head on the arrow cuts a hole large enough to
+permit the escape of excess blood, and, as a matter of fact, nearly all
+of our shots are perforating, going completely through the body.
+
+Conical, blunt, and bodkin points lack the power of penetration in
+animal tissue inherent in broad-heads; correspondingly they do less
+damage.
+
+[Illustration (up-left): THREE TYPES OF HUNTING ARROWS]
+
+[Illustration (up-right): A BLUNT ARROW SHOT THROUGH AN INCH BOARD]
+
+[Illustration (down-left): "BRER" FOX UP A TREE]
+
+[Illustration (down-right): ART YOUNG SHOOTS FISH]
+
+Catlin, in his book on the North American Indian, relates that the
+Mandans, among other tribes, practiced shooting a number of arrows in
+succession with such dexterity that their best archer could keep eight
+arrows up in the air at one time.
+
+Will Thompson, the dean of American archery, writing in _Forest and
+Stream_ of March, 1915, says very definitely that the feat of the
+legendary hero, Hiawatha, who is supposed to have shot so strong and
+far that he could shoot the tenth arrow before the first descended, is
+manifestly absurd. Thompson contends that no man ever has, or ever will
+keep more than three arrows up in the air at once.
+
+Having read this and determined to try the experiment of dextrous
+shooting, I constructed a dozen light arrows having wide nocks and
+flattened rear ends so they might be fingered quickly. Then I devised a
+way of grasping a supply of ready shafts in the bow hand, and invented
+an arrow release in which all the fingers and thumb held the arrow on
+the string, yet remained entirely on the right side of it.
+
+After quite a bit of practice in accurate, later in rapid, nocking, I
+succeeded in shooting seven successive arrows in the air before the
+first touched the ground. I used a perpendicular flight. Upon several
+occasions I almost accomplished eight at once. I feel that with
+considerable practice eight, and even more, are possible, proving again
+that there is an element of truth in all legends.
+
+It has long been a bone of contention among archers which element of
+the yew, the sap wood or the heart, gives the greater cast. To obtain
+experimental evidence, I constructed two miniature bows, each
+twenty-two inches long, one of pure white sap wood, the other of the
+heart from the same stave. I made them the same size, and weighing
+about eight pounds when drawn eight inches.
+
+Shooting a little arrow on these bows, the sap wood shot forty-three
+yards; the red wood sixty-six yards, showing the greater cast to be in
+the red yew.
+
+Corroborating this, Mr. Compton relates that while working in Barnes's
+shop in Forest Grove, Oregon, during the last illness of that noted
+bowyer, he came across a laminated bow made entirely of sap wood.
+Barnes stated that he had constructed it at the instigation of Will
+Thompson. The cast of this bow was slow, flabby, and weak. As a
+shooting implement it was a failure.
+
+Taking two pieces of wood, one white and one red, each twelve inches
+long, I placed them in a bench vise and fastened a spring scale to the
+top of each. Drawing the sap wood four inches from the perpendicular,
+it pulled eight pounds. Drawing the heart wood the same distance it
+pulled fourteen pounds, showing the greater strength of the latter.
+When drawn five inches from a straight line, the red piece broke. The
+sap wood could be bent at a right angle without fracture.
+
+It is obvious from this that the sap wood excels in tensile strength
+the red wood in compression strength and resiliency. In fact, they are
+reciprocal in action. The red yew on the belly of the bow gives the
+energy, the sap wood preserves it from fracture. It is, in fact,
+equivalent to sinew backing, and though less durable, probably adds
+more to the cast of the bows.
+
+In our experiments with a catgut and rawhide backing, we have not found
+that they add materially to the cast of a bow, only insure it against
+fracture. On the other hand, sap wood and hickory backing materially
+add to the power of the implement.
+
+The little red yew bow used in the previous experiment was backed
+heavily with rawhide and catgut. It then weighed ten pounds, but only
+shot sixty-three yards, showing a decrease in cast. But the backing
+permitted its being drawn to ten inches, when it shot a distance of
+eighty-five yards. A draw of twelve inches fractured it across the
+handle.
+
+In a similar experiment it was shown that two pieces of wood of the
+same size, but one being of a coarse-grained yew running sixteen lines
+to the inch, the other a fine-grained piece running thirty-five lines
+to the inch, the finer grain had the greater strength and resiliency up
+to the breaking point, but the yellow coarse-grained piece was more
+flexible and less readily broken.
+
+The question often arises, "How would an arrow fly if the bow is held
+in a mechanical rest and the string released by a mechanical release?"
+Such an apparatus would permit of several experiments. It would answer
+some of the queries that naturally pass through the mind of every
+archer.
+
+_Question 1._ How accurate is the bow and arrow as a weapon of
+precision, or as they say in ballistics, "What is the error of
+dispersion?"
+
+_Question 2._ What is the angle of declination to the left of the point
+of aim in the flight of such an arrow?
+
+_Question 3._ What is the effect of placing the cock feather next the
+bow?
+
+_Question 4._ What is the effect of shooting different arrows? How do
+they group? Would not such a machine give accurate data regarding the
+flight of new arrows and help in the selection of shafts for target
+shooting?
+
+_Question 5._ What effect does the time of holding a bow full drawn
+have on the flight of an arrow?
+
+_Question 6._ What is the result of changing the weight of bows when
+the arrows remain the same?
+
+Therefore, we devised a rest, consisting of a post set firmly in the
+ground, with a rigid cross arm and a vise-like hand grip. This latter
+was padded thickly with rubber, so that some resiliency was permitted.
+The bow was fastened in this mechanical hand by sturdy set screws.
+
+At the other end of the cross arm a hinged block was attached, from
+which projected two short wooden fingers, serving the exact function of
+the drawing hand. These were spaced so that the arrow nock fitted
+between them, and when the string was pulled into position and caught
+upon these fingers, the bow was drawn 28 inches.
+
+We adopted a system of loading, drawing and releasing on count, so that
+every shot was delivered with equal time factors.
+
+_Answer 1._ Using the same arrow each time, with the target set at 60
+yards, we found, of course, that the arrow always flies to the left
+when drawn on the left side of the bow, and that the angle of
+divergence for a 50 pound bow and a 5 shilling English target arrow was
+between six and seven degrees. Using a stronger bow this angle was
+increased,--also that with a weaker arrow the angle was greater,--but
+six degrees might be designated as the normal declination.
+
+_Answer 2._ Every rifle expert knows what his gun is capable of, in
+accuracy, and an archer should know just what to expect of an arrow
+under the most favorable conditions. We therefore tried shooting the
+same arrow over the same course with the same release, under these
+fairly stable conditions: The day was calm. We shot an arrow ten times
+in succession and all the shots centered in a six inch bull's-eye; that
+is, none went out of a circle of this diameter. In other words, at
+sixty yards a bow can shoot arrows with an error of dispersion of no
+more than six inches. This is surprisingly accurate for a weapon of
+this sort, when it is considered that the best rifles of today will
+average between one and a half to three inches dispersion at 100 yards.
+
+_Answer 3._ Placing the cock feather next the bow diverts the arrow to
+the left and causes it to drop lower on the target. The group formed by
+six flights was fairly close and consistent.
+
+_Answer 4._ Out of nine arrows tested, five consistently made a good
+close group and four as consistently went out. The "outs," however,
+were uniform in the direction and distance they took. It would be
+possible by this machine to select arrows that would make co-incidental
+patterns. It is obvious, however, that differences in individual arrows
+are greatly exaggerated by the apparatus, because it was quite apparent
+by this test that any good archer could group these hits much closer
+than the machine delivered them.
+
+_Answer 5._ In our shooting, we universally allotted five seconds for
+drawing, setting and discharging. However, when this time was increased
+to fifteen seconds, we found that our groups averaged seven and
+one-half inches lower. This shows the decided loss of cast incidental
+to long holding of the bow.
+
+_Answer 6._ Placing a 65 pound bow in the frame immediately showed
+increased reactions throughout. The lateral divergence in arrow flight
+was increased to fifteen degrees and all individual reactions were
+correspondingly increased. The flight of the individual arrow was less
+consistent, showing plainly the necessity of a proper relation in
+weight between the arrow and bow,--a very essential factor in accurate
+shooting.
+
+In conclusion, it seems to me that the machine naturally exaggerated
+the errors, for this reason. If the pressure of the arrow against the
+bow, in passing, amounts to two ounces, the arrow will fly a two ounce
+equivalent to the left, when the bow is held rigidly. An arrow that
+exerts four ounces pressure will fly correspondingly a greater distance
+to the left. But when the bow is held in the hand, there is
+considerable give to the muscles and the two ounce pressure is
+compensated for; thus, the arrow tends to fly straight. The four ounce
+arrow would with the same adjustment hold a correspondingly straighter
+course.
+
+The vertical error, however, depends more on the weight of the arrow,
+on the feathering, the holding time, the maintainance of tension, and
+on the release of the bowstring.
+
+There are many problems in the ballistics of archery that are unsolved,
+waiting the experiments of modern science. Empirical methods have
+dictated the art so far. In target equipment and shooting there is a
+wide field for investigation. Our interests, however, are more those of
+the hunter, and less those of the physicist.
+
+
+
+
+V
+
+
+HOW TO MAKE A BOW
+
+
+Every field archer should make his own tackle. If he cannot make and
+repair it, he will never shoot very long, because it is in constant
+need of repair.
+
+Target bows and arrows may be bought in sporting stores, here or in
+England, but hunting equipment must be made. Moreover, when a man
+manufactures his bow and arrows, he appreciates them more. But it will
+take many attempts before even the most mechanically gifted can expect
+to produce good artillery. After having made more than a hundred yew
+bows, I still feel that I am a novice. The beginner may expect his
+first two or three will be failures, but after that he can at least
+shoot them.
+
+Since there are so many different kinds of bows and all so inferior to
+the English long-bow, we shall describe this alone.
+
+Yew wood is the greatest bow timber in the world. That was proved
+thousands of years ago by experience. It is indeed a magic wood!
+
+But yew wood is hard to get and hard to make into a bow once having got
+it. Nevertheless, I am going to tell you where you can get it and how
+to work it, and how to make hunting bows just as we use them today, and
+presumably just as our forefathers used them before us. Later on I
+shall tell you what substitutes may be used for yew.
+
+The best yew wood in America grows in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon,
+in the Sierra Nevada and Coast Ranges of northern California. By
+addressing the Department of Forestry, doubtless one can get in
+communication with some one who will cut him a stave. Living in
+California, I cut my own.
+
+A description of yew trees and their location may be had from
+Sudworth's "_Forest Trees of the Pacific Slope_," to be obtained from
+the Government Printing Office at Washington.
+
+My own staves I cut near Branscomb, Mendocino County, and at Grizzly
+Creek on the Van Duzen River, Humboldt County, California. Splendid
+staves have been shipped to me from this latter county, coming from the
+neighborhood of Korbel.
+
+Yew is an evergreen tree with a leaf looking a great deal like that of
+redwood, hemlock, or fir at a distance. It is found growing in the
+mountains, down narrow canyons, and along streams. It likes shade,
+water, and altitude. Its bark is reddish beneath and scaly or fuzzy on
+the surface. Its limbs stand straight out from the trunk at an acute
+angle, not drooping as those of the redwood and fir.
+
+The sexes are separate in yew. The female tree has a bright red
+gelatinous berry in autumn, and the male a minute cone. It is
+interesting that in bear countries the female trees often have long
+wounds in the bark, or deep scratches made by the claws of these
+animals as they climb to get the yew berries. It is also stated by some
+authorities that the female yew has light yellow wood, is coarser
+grained, and does not make so good a bow. I have tried to verify this,
+but so far I have found some of my bear marked female yew to be the
+better staves.
+
+The best wood is, of course, dark and close grained. This generally
+exists in trees that have one side decayed. It seems that the rot
+stains the rest of the wood and nature makes the grain more compact to
+compensate for the loss of structural strength. It is also apparent
+that yew grown at high altitudes, over three thousand feet, is superior
+to lowland yew.
+
+In selecting a tree for a hunting bow, the stave must be at least six
+feet long, free from limbs, knots, twists, pitch pockets, rot, small
+sprouting twigs and corrugations. One will look over a hundred trees to
+find one good bow stave; then he may find a half dozen excellent staves
+in one tree.
+
+There is no such thing as a perfect piece of yew, nor is there a
+perfect bow; at least, I have never seen it. But there is a bow in
+every yew tree if we but know how to get it out. That is the mystery of
+bowmaking. It takes an artist, not an artisan.
+
+Before one ever fells a tree, he should weigh the moral right to do so.
+But yew trees are a gift from the gods, and grown only for bows. If you
+are sure you see one good bow in a tree, cut it. Having felled it and
+marked with your eye the best stave, cut it again so that your stave is
+seven feet long. Then split the trunk into halves or quarters with
+steel or wooden wedges so that your stave is from three to six inches
+wide. Cut out the heart wood so that the billet is about three inches
+thick. Be careful not to bruise the bark in any of these operations.
+
+Now put your stave in the shade. If you are compelled to ship it by
+express, wrap it in burlap or canvas, and preferably saw the ends
+square and paint them to prevent checking. When you get it home put it
+in the cellar.
+
+If you must make a bow right away, place the stave in running water for
+a month, then dry in a shady place for a month, and it is ready for
+use. It will not be so good as if seasoned three to seven years, but it
+will shoot; in fact, it will shoot the same day you cut it from the
+tree, only it will follow the string and not stand straight as it
+should. Of course, it will not have the cast of air-seasoned wood.
+
+The old authorities say, cut your yew in the winter when the sap is
+down, or as Barnes, the famous bow-maker of Forest Grove, Oregon, used
+to say: "Yew cut in the summer contains the seeds of death." But this
+does not seem to have proved the case in my experience. I am fully
+convinced that the sap can be washed out and the process of seasoning
+hastened very materially by proper treatment.
+
+Kiln dried wood is never good as a bow. It is too brash; but after the
+first month of shade, the staves may be put in a hot attic to their
+advantage.
+
+In selecting the portion of the tree best suited for a bow, choose that
+part that when cut will cause the stave to bend backward toward the
+bark. Since your bow ultimately will bend in the opposite direction,
+this natural curve tends to form a straighter bow, or as an archer
+would say "set back a bit in the handle."
+
+If it is impossible to get a stave six feet in length, then a wide
+stave three and a half feet long may be used. It is necessary in this
+case to split it and join the two pieces with a fishtail splice in the
+handle. Target bows are made this way, to advantage, but such a
+makeshift is to be deprecated in a hunting bow. The variations of
+temperature and moisture combined with hard usage in hunting demand a
+solid, single stave. It must not break. Your life may depend upon it.
+
+Before engaging in any art, it is necessary to study the anatomy of
+your subject. The anatomical points of a bow have a time-honored
+nomenclature and are as follows: Bows may be single staves, or
+one-piece bows, those of one continuity and homogeneity; spliced bows
+consist of two pieces of wood united in the handle; backed bows have an
+added strip of wood glued on the back; and composite bows are made up
+of several different substances, such as wood, horn, sinew, and glue.
+
+That surface of the bow which faces the string when drawn into action,
+that is, the concave arc, is called the belly of the bow. The opposite
+surface is the back. A bow should never be bent backwards, away from
+the belly; it will break.
+
+The center of the bow is the handle or hand grip; the extremities are
+the tips, usually finished with notches cut in the wood or surmounted
+by horn, bone, sinew, wooden or metal caps called nocks. These are
+grooved to accommodate the string. The spaces between the nocks and the
+handle are called the limbs.
+
+A bow that when unstrung bends back past the straight line is termed
+reflexed. One that continues to bend toward the belly is said to follow
+the string. A lateral deviation is called a cast in the bow.
+
+The proper length of a yew bow should be the height of the man that
+shoots it, or a trifle less. Our hunting bows are from five feet six
+inches to five feet eight inches in length. The weight of a hunting bow
+should be from fifty to eighty pounds. One should start shooting with a
+bow not over fifty pounds, and preferably under that. At the end of a
+season's shooting he can command a bow of sixty pounds if he is a
+strong man. Our average bows pull seventy-five pounds. Though it is
+possible for some of us to shoot an eighty-five pound bow, such a
+weapon is not under proper control for constant use.
+
+Some pieces of yew will make a stronger bow at given dimensions than
+others. The finer the grain and the greater the specific gravity, the
+more resilient and active the wood, and stronger the bow.
+
+Taking a yew stave having a dark red color and a layer of white sap
+wood about a quarter of an inch thick, covered with a thin
+maroon-colored bark, let us make a bow. Counting the rings in the wood
+at the upper end of the stave, you will find that they run over forty
+to the inch.
+
+Ishi insisted that this end of the stave should always be the upper end
+of the weapon. It seems to me that this extremity having the most
+compact grain, and the strongest, should constitute the lower limb,
+because, as we shall see later on, this limb is shorter, bears the
+greater strain, and is the one that gives down the sooner.
+
+We shall plan to make the bow as strong as is compatible with good
+shooting, and reduce its strength later to meet our requirements.
+
+Look over the stave and estimate whether it is capable of yielding two
+bows instead of one. If it be over three inches wide, and straight
+throughout, then rip it down the center with a saw. Place one stave in
+a bench vise and carefully clean off the bark with a draw knife. Do not
+cut the sap wood in this process.
+
+Cut your stave to six feet in length. Sight down it and see how the
+plane of the back twists. If it is fairly consistent, draw a straight
+line down the center of the sap wood. This is the back of your bow. Now
+draw on the back an outline which has a width of an inch and a quarter
+extending for a distance of a foot above and a foot below the center.
+Let this outline taper in a gentle curve to the extremities of the bow,
+where it has a width of three-quarters of an inch. This will serve as a
+rough working plan and is sufficiently large to insure that you will
+get a strong weapon.
+
+With the draw knife, and later a jack plane, cut the lateral surfaces
+down to this outline. The back must stand a tremendous tensile strain
+and the grain of the wood should not be injured in any way. But you may
+smooth it off very judiciously with a spoke shave, and later with a
+file. The transverse contour of this part of the bow remains as it was
+in the tree, a long flat arc.
+
+Shift the stave in the vise so that the sap wood is downward, and set
+it so that the average plane of the sap is level. With the raw knife
+shave the wood very carefully, avoiding cutting too deeply or splitting
+off fragments, until the bow assumes the thickness of one and
+one-quarter inches in the center and this decreases as it approaches
+the tips, where it is half an inch thick.
+
+The shape of a cross-section of the belly of the bow should be a full
+Roman arch. Many debates have centered on the shape of this part of the
+weapon. Some contend for a high-crested contour, or Gothic arch, what
+is termed "stacking a bow"; some have chosen a very flat curve as the
+best. The former makes for a quick, lively cast and may be desirable in
+a target implement, but it is liable to fracture; the latter makes a
+soft, pleasant, durable bow, but one that follows the string. Choose
+the happy medium.
+
+The process of shaping the belly is the most delicate and requires more
+skill than all the rest. In the first place you must follow the grain
+of the wood. If the back twists and undulates, your cut must do the
+same. The feather of the grain must never be reversed, but descend by
+perfect gradation from handle to tip.
+
+Where a knot or pin occurs in the wood, here you must leave more
+substance because this is a weak spot. If the pin be large and you
+cannot avoid it, then it is best to drill it out carefully and fill the
+cavity with a solid piece of hard wood set in with glue. A pin crumbles
+while an inserted piece will stand the strain. If such a "Dutchman" be
+not too large nor too near the center of either limb, it will not
+materially jeopardize the bow. If, in your shaving, you come across a
+sharp dip in' the grain, such that will make a decided concavity, here
+leave a few more layers of grain than you would were the contour even;
+for a concave structure cannot stand strain as well as a straight one;
+the leverage is increased unduly.
+
+The following measurements, with a caliper, are those of my favorite
+hunting bow, called "Old Horrible," and with which I've slain many a
+beast. The width just above the handle is 1-1/4 by 1-1/8 inches thick.
+Six inches up the limb the width is 1-1/4, thickness 11-1/16.
+
+Twelve inches above the handle it is a trifle less than 1-1/4 wide by 1
+inch thick. Eighteen inches above the handle it is 1-1/8 wide by 7/8
+thick. Twenty-four inches above it is 15/16 wide by 3/4 thick. Thirty
+inches above it is 11/16 by 9/16 thick. At the nock it is practically
+1/2 by 1/2 inches.
+
+Having got the bow down to rough proportions, the next thing is to cut
+two temporary nocks on it, very near the ends. These consist in lateral
+cuts having a depth of an eighth of an inch and are best made with a
+rat tail file.
+
+Now you can string your bow and test its curve.
+
+Of course, you must have a string, and usually that employed in these
+early tests is very strong and roughly made of nearly ninety strands of
+Barbour's linen, No. 12. Directions for making strings will be given
+later on.
+
+It is difficult to brace a new heavy bow and one will require
+assistance. In the absence of help he can place it in the vise, one of
+those revolving on a pivot, and having the string properly adjusted on
+the lower limb, pull on the upper end in such a way that the other
+presses against the wall or a stationary brace, thus bending the bow
+while you slip the expectant loop over the open nock. Or you can have
+an assistant pull on the upper nock, while you brace the bow yourself.
+
+In ancient times, at this stage, the bow was tillered, or tested for
+its curve, or, as Sir Roger Ascham says, "brought round compass," which
+means to make it bend in a perfect arc when full drawn.
+
+The tiller is a piece of board three feet long, two inches wide, and
+one inch thick, having a V-shaped notch at the lower end to fit on the
+handle and small notches on its side two inches apart, for a distance
+of twenty-eight inches. These are to hold the string.
+
+Lay the braced bow on the floor, place the end of the tiller on the
+handle while you steady the tiller upright. Then put your foot on the
+bow next the tiller and draw the string up until it slips in the first
+notch, say twelve inches from the handle. If the curve of the bow is
+fairly symmetrical, draw the string a few inches more. If again it
+describes a perfect arc raise the string still farther. A perfect arc
+for a bow should be a trifle flat at the center. If, on the other hand,
+one limb or a part of it does not bend as it should, this must be
+reduced carefully by shaving it for a space of several inches over the
+spot and the bow tested again.
+
+Proceeding very cautiously, at the same time not keeping the bow full
+drawn more than a second or two at a time, you ultimately get the two
+limbs so that they bend nearly the same and the general distribution of
+the curve is equal throughout.
+
+As a matter of fact, a great deal of experience is needed here. By
+marking a correct form on the floor with chalk, a novice may fit his
+bow to this outline.
+
+The perfect weapon is a trifle stiff at the center and the lower limb a
+shade stronger than the upper.
+
+The real shooting center, the place where the arrow passes, is actually
+one and one-quarter inches above the geographic center, and the hand
+consequently is below this point. Your finished hand grip, being four
+inches long, will be one and a quarter inches above the center and two
+and three-quarters below the center. This makes the lower limb
+comparatively shorter, so it must be relatively stronger. Your bow,
+therefore, when full drawn should be symmetrical, but when simply
+braced, the bend of the upper limb is perceptibly greater than the
+stronger lower limb.
+
+You will find the bow we have made will pull over eighty pounds, even
+after it is thoroughly broken to the string. It is necessary,
+therefore, to reduce it further. This is done with a spoke shave, a
+very small hand plane or a file. Ultimately I use a pocket knife as a
+scraper, and sandpaper and steelwool to finish it.
+
+Your effort must be to get every part of the wood to do its work, for
+every inch is under utmost strain, and one part doing more than the
+rest must ultimately break down, sustain a compression fracture, or, as
+an archer would say, "chrysal or fret."
+
+"A bow full drawn is seven-eighths broken," said old Thomas Waring, the
+English bowmaker, and he was right. Draw your bow three inches more
+than the standard cloth yard of twenty-eight inches and you break it.
+It is more accurate to say that a full drawn bow is nine-tenths broken.
+
+It is also essential that the bow be stiff in the handle so that it
+will be rigid in shooting and not jar or kick, which one weak at this
+point invariably does.
+
+A bow should be light at the tips, say the last eight inches, which is
+accomplished by rounding the back slightly and reducing the width at
+this point. This gives an active recoil, or as it is described, "whip
+ended." This can be overdone, especially in hunting-bows, where a
+little more solidity and safety are preferable to a brilliant cast.
+
+And so you must work and test your bow, and shoot it, and draw it up
+before a full length mirror and observe its outline, and get your
+friends to draw it up and pass judgment on it. In fact, while the
+actual work of making a bow takes about eight hours, it requires months
+to get one adjusted so that it is good. A bow, like a violin, is a work
+of art. The best in it can only be brought out by infinite care. Like a
+violin, it is all curved contours, there is not a straight line in it.
+Many of my bows have been built over completely three or four times.
+Old Horrible first pulled eighty-five pounds. It was reduced,
+shortened, whip ended, and worked over again and again so to tune the
+wood that all parts acted in harmony. Every good bow is a work of love.
+
+Your bow is now ready to shoot, but let us weigh it first. Brace it and
+put it horizontally in the vise with the string facing you. Take a
+spring scale registering at least eighty pounds and catch the hook
+under the string. Draw it until the yardstick registers twenty-eight
+inches from the string to the back of the bow. Now read the scale; that
+is its weight.
+
+As a matter of convenience I have devised a stick that facilitates the
+weighing. I take a dowel and attach to one end by glue and binding a
+bent piece of iron so fashioned that the extremity serves as a hook to
+draw the string and the bent portion permits the attachment of the
+scale. The dowel is marked off in inches so that one can test different
+lengths of draw. With the bow in the bench vise, this measure hooked on
+the string and resting on the bow at the arrow plate, the scale is
+hooked in place, the dowel drawn down to the standard length and the
+registered weight read off on the scale.
+
+If you still find that your bow is too strong for you, it must be
+further reduced. Begin all over again with the spoke shave and the
+file, trying to correct any inequalities that may have existed before
+and reducing it to what ultimately will be sixty-five pounds. Put on
+the string and weigh it again and again until you get the weight you
+want. If you have reduced it too much, cut it down two or four inches;
+it will be stronger and shoot better.
+
+All yew bows tend to lose in strength after much use, and your new one
+should pull five pounds more than the required weight. If a bow is put
+away in a dry, warm place for several years it nearly always increases
+in strength. In our experience one in constant use lasts from three to
+five years. The longer the bow, the longer its life. Some, of course,
+break or come to grief after a short period, others live to honorable
+old age. Yew bows are in existence today that were made many thousands
+of years ago, but, of course, they would break if shot. Many bows over
+one hundred years old are still in use occasionally. I have estimated
+that the average life of a good bow should exceed one hundred thousand
+shots, after which time it begins to fret and show other signs of
+weakness.
+
+Keeping in mind the idea of making your weapon as beautiful, as
+symmetrical and resilient as possible, free from dead or overstrained
+areas, work it down with utmost solicitude until it approaches your
+ideal. Smooth it with sandpaper; finish it with steelwool.
+
+Now comes the process of putting on the nocks. A bow shoots well
+without them, but is safer with them.
+
+From time immemorial, horn tips have been put on the ends of the limbs
+to hold the string. We have used rawhide, hardwood, aluminum, bone, elk
+horn, deer horn, buffalo horn, paper fiber or composition, and cow's
+horn. The last seems best of all. From your butcher secure a number of
+horns. With a saw cut off three or four inches of the tip. Place one in
+a vise and drill a conical hole in it an inch and a quarter deep and
+half an inch wide. This can be done by using a half-inch drill which
+has been ground on a carborundum stone to a conical point the proper
+length. In this hole set a stout piece of wood with glue. This permits
+you to hold the horn in the vise while you work it.
+
+After the glue has set, take a coarse file and shape the horn nock to
+the classical shape, which is hard to describe but easy to illustrate.
+It must have diagonal grooves to hold the string. The nock for the
+upper limb has also a hole at its extremity to receive the buckskin
+thong which keeps the upper loop of the string from slipping too far
+down the bow when unbraced.
+
+The nocks for hunting bows should be short and stout, not over one and
+a half inches long, for they get a lot of hard usage in their travels.
+They should also be broader and thicker than those used on target bows.
+
+Two nocks having been roughly finished, they are loosened from their
+wooden handles by being soaked in boiling water, and are ready for use.
+Cut the ends of the bow to fit the nocks in such a way that they tip
+slightly backward when in place, but do not attach them yet.
+
+[Illustration: DETAILS OF BOW CONSTRUCTION]
+
+At this point we back the bow with rawhide. Ordinarily a yew bow
+properly protected by sapwood requires no backing; but having had many
+bows break in our hands, we at last took the advice of Ishi and backed
+them. Since then no bow legitimately used has broken.
+
+The rawhide utilized for this purpose is known to tanners as clarified
+calfskin. Its principal use is in the manufacture of artificial limbs,
+drum heads and parchment. Its thickness is not much more than that of
+writing paper.
+
+Having secured two pieces about three feet in length and two inches
+wide, soak them in warm water for an hour.
+
+While this is being done, slightly roughen the back of your bow with a
+file. Place it in the vise and size the back with thin, hot carpenter's
+glue. When the hide is soft, lay the pieces smooth side down on a board
+and wipe off the excess water. Quickly size them with hot glue, remove
+the excess with your finger, turn the pieces over and apply them to the
+bow. Overlap them at the hand grip for a distance of two or three
+inches. Smooth them out toward the tips by stroking and expressing all
+air bubbles and excess glue. Wrap the handle roughly with string to
+keep the strips from slipping; also bind the tips for a short distance
+to secure them in place. Remove the bow from the vise and bandage it
+carefully from tip to tip with a gauze surgical bandage. Set it aside
+to dry over night. When dry, remove the bandage and string binding, cut
+off the overlapping edges of the hide and scrape it smooth. Having got
+it to the required finish, size the exterior again with very thin glue,
+and it is ready for the final stage.
+
+The tips of the bow having been cut to a conical point and the nocks
+fitted prior to the backing process the horn nocks are now set on with
+glue; the ordinary liquid variety will do.
+
+Glue a thin strip of wood on the back of the bow to round out the
+handle. This should be about one-eighth of an inch thick, one inch wide
+and three inches long and rounded at the edges.
+
+Bind the center of your bow with heavy fish line to make the handgrip,
+carefully overlapping the start and finish. A little liquid glue or
+shellac can be placed on the wood to fix the serving. Some prefer
+leather or pigskin for a handgrip, but a cord binding keeps the hand
+from sweating and has an honest feel.
+
+The handle occupies a space of four inches with one and a quarter
+inches above the center and two and three-quarters below it. Finish off
+the edges of the cord binding with a band of thin leather half an inch
+wide. This should be soaked in water, beveled at the edge, sized with
+glue, put around the bow, and overlapped at the back. I also glue a
+small piece of leather on the left-hand side of the bow above the
+handle to prevent the arrow chafing the wood at this spot. This is
+called the arrow plate and usually is made of mother-of-pearl or bone;
+leather is better. These finishing pieces are wrapped temporarily with
+string until they dry.
+
+The bow is then given a final treatment with scraper and steelwool and
+is ready for the varnish.
+
+The best protection for bows seems to be spar varnish. This keeps out
+moisture. It has two disadvantages, however; it cracks after much
+bending, and it is too shiny. The glint or flash of a hunting bow will
+frighten game. I have often seen rabbits or deer stand until the bow
+goes off, then jump in time to escape the arrow. At first we believed
+they saw the arrow; later we found that they saw the flash. Bows really
+should be painted a dull green or drab color. But we love to see the
+natural grain of the wood.
+
+The finish I prefer is first of all to give a coat of shellac to the
+backing, leather trimmings and cord handle. After it is dry, give the
+wood a good soaking with boiled linseed oil. Using the same oiled cloth
+place in its center a small wad of cotton saturated with an alcoholic
+solution of shellac. Rub this quickly over the bow. By repeated oiling
+and shellacking one produces a French polish that is very durable and
+elastic.
+
+Permit this to dry and after several days rub the whole weapon with
+floor wax, giving a final polish with a woolen cloth.
+
+When on a hunt one should carry a small quantity of linseed oil and
+anoint his bow every day or so with it. Personally I add one part of
+light cedar oil to two parts of linseed. The fragrance of the former
+adds to the pleasure of using the latter.
+
+When not in use hang your bow on a peg or nail slipped beneath the
+upper loop of the string; do not stand it in a corner, this tends to
+bend the lower limb. Keep it in a warm, dry room; preserve it from
+bruises and scratches. Wax it and the string often. Care for it as you
+would a friend; it is your companion in arms.
+
+
+SUBSTITUTES FOR YEW
+
+
+Where it is impossible to obtain yew, the amateur bowyer has a large
+variety of substitutes. Probably the easiest to obtain is hickory,
+although it is a poor alternative. I believe the pig-nut or smooth bark
+is the best variety. One should endeavor to get a piece of second
+growth, white sapwood, and split it so as to get straight grain.
+
+This can be worked on the same general dimensions as yew, but the
+resulting bow will be found slow and heavy in cast and to have an
+incurable tendency to follow the string. It will need no rawhide back
+and will never break.
+
+Osage orange, mulberry, locust, black walnut with the sap wood, red
+cedar, juniper, tan oak, apple wood, ash, eucalyptus, lancewood,
+washaba, palma brava, elm, birch, and bamboo are among the many woods
+from which bows have been made.
+
+With the exception of lancewood, lemon wood, or osage orange, which are
+hard to get, the next best wood to yew is red Tennessee cedar backed
+with hickory.
+
+Go to a lumber yard and select a plank of cedar having the fewest knots
+and the straightest grain. Saw or split a piece out of it six feet
+long, two inches wide, and about an inch thick. Plane it straight and
+roughen its two-inch surface with a file. Obtain a strip of white
+straight-grained hickory six feet long, two inches wide, and a quarter
+inch thick.
+
+Roughen one surface, spread these two rough surfaces with a good liquid
+glue and place them together. With a series of clamps compress them
+tightly. In the absence of clamps, a pile of bricks or weights may be
+used. After several days it will be dry enough to work.
+
+From this point on it may be treated the same as yew. The hickory
+backing takes the place of the sap wood.
+
+Cedar has a soft, lively cast and the hickory backing makes it almost
+unbreakable.
+
+This bow should be bound with linen or silk every few inches like a
+fishing rod. Several coats of varnish will keep the glue from being
+affected by moisture or rain.
+
+Since both woods are usually obtainable at any lumber yard, there
+should be no difficulty in the matter save the mechanical factors
+involved. These only add zest to the problem. A true archer must be a
+craftsman.
+
+
+MAKING A BOWSTRING
+
+
+A bow without a string is dead; therefore, we must set to work to make
+one.
+
+Sinew, catgut, and rawhide strings were used by the early archers, but
+have been abandoned by the more modern. Animal tissue stretches when it
+is put under strain or subjected to heat and moisture. Silk makes a
+good string, but it is short-lived and is not so strong as linen.
+
+A comparative test of various strings was made to determine which
+material is the strongest for bows. Number 3 surgical catgut is
+apparently a D string on the violin. Taking this as a standard
+diameter, a series of waxed strings of various substances were made and
+tested on a spring scale for their breaking point. The results are as
+follows:
+
+    Horsehair            breaks at 15 pounds.
+    Cotton               breaks at 18 pounds.
+    Catgut               breaks at 20 pounds.
+    Silk                 breaks at 22 pounds.
+    Irish linen          breaks at 28 pounds.
+    Chinese grass fiber  breaks at 32 pounds.
+
+This latter, with similar unusual fibers, is not on the market in the
+form of thread, so is of no practical use to us.
+
+We use Irish linen or shoemakers' thread. It is Barbour's Number 12.
+Each thread will stand a strain of six pounds; therefore, a bowstring
+of fifty strands will suspend a weight of 300 pounds.
+
+A target bow may have a proportionately lighter string than a hunting
+bow because here a quick cast is desired; but in hunting, security is
+necessary. We therefore allow one strand of linen for every pound of
+the bow.
+
+This is the method of manufacturing a bowstring as devised by the late
+Mr. Maxson and described in _American Archery_. Some few alterations
+have been introduced to simplify the technique.
+
+It is advisable to take the threads in your hands as you follow the
+directions.
+
+If you propose making a string for a sixty-five-pound bow, it should
+have about sixty threads in it, and these are divided into three
+strands of twenty threads each. Start making the first of these strands
+by measuring off on the bow a length eight inches beyond each end--that
+is, sixteen inches longer than your bow. Double your thread back,
+drawing it through your hand until you reach the beginning. Now repeat
+the process of laying one thread with another, back and forth, until
+twenty are in the strand. But these must be so arranged that each is
+about half an inch shorter than the preceding, thus making the end of
+the strand tapered.
+
+When twenty are thus stroked into one cord, they are heavily waxed by
+drawing the strand through the hand and wax, from center to the ends,
+each way. Now roll the greater part of this strand about your fingers
+and make a little coil which you compress, but allow about twenty-four
+inches to remain free and uncoiled. Thus abbreviated it is easier to
+handle in the subsequent process of twisting it into a cord.
+
+Make two other strands exactly like this, roll them into a compressed
+coil and lay them aside. Now to form the loop or eye it is necessary to
+thicken the string at this point with an additional splice. So lay out
+another strand of twenty threads six feet long. Cut this into six
+pieces, each twelve inches in length. Take one of these and so pull the
+ends of the threads that they are made of uneven length, or that the
+ends become tapered. Wax this splice thoroughly; do this to each one in
+turn.
+
+Now pick up one of your original strands and apply to its tapered end
+and lying along the last foot of its length one of the above described
+splices. Wax the two together. So treat the two other strands.
+
+Grasp the three cords together in your left hand at a point nine inches
+from the end. With the right hand pick up one strand near this point
+and twist it between the thumb and finger, away from you, rolling it
+tight, at the same time pulling it toward you. Seize another strand,
+twist it from you and pull it toward you. Continue this process with
+each in succession, and you will find that you are making a rope. By
+the time the rope is three inches in length, it is long enough to fold
+on itself and constitute a loop. Proceed to double it back so that the
+loose ends of the strands are mated and waxed into cohesion with the
+three main strands of the string. Arrange them nicely so that they
+interlace properly and are evenly applied.
+
+Now while being seated, slip the upper limb of your bow under your
+right knee and over the left, and drop the new formed loop of your
+string over the horn nock. Begin again the process of twisting each
+strand away from you while you pull it toward you. Continue the motion
+until you have run down the string a distance of eight inches. During
+the process you will see the wisdom of having rolled the excess string
+up into little skeins to keep them from being tangled. Thus the upper
+eye is formed. At this stage unwind your skeins and stretch the string
+down the bow, untwisting and drawing straight the three strands.
+
+Seize them now three inches below the lower nock of your bow. At this
+point apply the short splices for the lower loop. They should be so
+laid on that three inches extends up the string from this point and the
+rest lies along the tapered extremity. Wax them tight. Hold the three
+long strands together while you give them final equalizing traction.
+Start here and twist your second loop, drawing each strand toward you
+as you twist it away from you until a rope of three inches is formed
+again. This you double back on itself, mate its tapered extremities
+with the three long strands of the string and wax them together.
+
+Slip the upper loop down your bow and nock the lower loop on the lower
+horn. Swing your right knee over the bow below the string and set the
+loop on this horn while you work. Give the string plenty of slack.
+
+Start again the twisting and pulling operation, keeping the strands
+from tangles while you form the lower splice of the string. When it is
+eight inches long, take off the loop and unroll the twist in the main
+body of the string. Replace the loop and brace your bow. This will take
+the kinks from the cord. Wax it thoroughly and, removing the lower
+loop, twist the entire bowstring in the direction of the previous
+maneuver until it is shortened to the proper length to fit the bow.
+Nock the string again and, taking a thick piece of paper, fold it into
+a little pad and rub the bowstring vigorously until it assumes a round,
+well-waxed condition.
+
+If the loops are properly placed, the final twisting should make one
+complete rotation of the string in a distance of one or two inches. A
+closer twist tends to cut itself.
+
+If, by mistake, the string is too short or too long, and adjusting the
+twist does not correct it, then you must undo the last loop to overcome
+the error. The fork of these loops is often bound with waxed carpet
+thread to reduce their size and strengthen them. The whole structure at
+this point may be served with the same thread to protect it from
+becoming chafed and worn.
+
+The center of the string and the nocking point for the arrow must now
+be served with waxed silk, linen, or cotton thread to protect it from
+becoming worn.
+
+Ordinarily we take a piece of red carpet thread or shoe button thread,
+about two yards in length, wax it thoroughly and double it. Start with
+the doubled end, threading the free end through it around the string,
+and wind it over, from right to left. The point of starting this
+serving is two and one-half inches above the center of the bowstring.
+
+When you come to the nocking point, or that at which an arrow stands
+perpendicular to the string while crossing the bow at the top of the
+handle, make a series of overlapping threads or clove hitches. This
+will form a little lump or knot on the string at this point. Continue
+serving for half an inch and repeat this maneuver; again continue the
+serving down the string for a distance of four or five inches,
+finishing with a fixed lashing by drawing the thread under the last two
+or three wraps.
+
+A nocking point of this character has two advantages: the first is that
+you can feel it readily while nocking an arrow in the dark or while
+keeping your eye on the game, and the other point is that the knots
+prevent the arrow being dislodged while walking through the brush.
+
+We have found that by heating our beeswax and adding about one-quarter
+rosin, it makes it more adhesive.
+
+In hot or wet weather it is of some advantage to rub the string with an
+alcoholic solution of shellac. Compounds containing glue or any hard
+drying substance seem to cause the strings to break more readily.
+Paraffin, talcum powder, or a bit of tallow candle rubbed on the
+serving and nocking point is useful in making a clean release of the
+string.
+
+So far as dampness and rain go, these never interfere with the action
+of the string. A well-greased bow will stand considerable water, though
+arrows suffer considerably.
+
+Wax your string every few days if in use; you should always carry an
+extra one with you.
+
+Strings break most commonly at the nocking point beneath the serving.
+Here they sustain the greatest strain and are subject to most bending.
+An inspection at this point frequently should be done. An impending
+break is indicated by an uneven contour of the strands beneath the
+serving. Discard it before it actually breaks.
+
+By putting a spring scale between one of the bow nocks and the end of
+the string, the unexpected phenomenon is demonstrated that there is
+greater tension on a string when the bow is braced but not drawn up. A
+fifty-six pound bow registers a sixty-four pound tension on the string.
+As the arrow is drawn up the tension decreases gradually until twenty-
+six inches are drawn, when it registers sixty-four pounds again.
+
+At the moment of recoil, when the bow springs back into position, this
+strain must rise tremendously, for if the arrow be not in place the
+string frequently will be broken.
+
+The tension on the string at the center or nocking point during the
+process of drawing a bow--that is, the accumulated weight--rises quite
+differently in different bows. The arrow being nocked on the string, it
+is ordinarily already six inches drawn across the bow. Now in the same
+fifty-six pound bow for every inch of draw past this, the weight rises
+between two and three pounds. As the arrow nears full draw, the weight
+increases to such a degree that the last few inches will register five
+or six pounds to the inch, depending on many variable factors in the
+bow.
+
+The gradient thus formed dictates the character of a bow to a great
+extent. One that pulls softly at first and in the last part of the draw
+is very stiff, will require more careful shooting to get the exact
+length of flight than one whose tension is evenly distributed.
+
+Reflexed bows are harder on strings than those that follow the string.
+A breaking cord may fracture your bow. I saw Wallace Bryant lose a
+beautiful specimen this way. One of Aldred's most perfect make, dark
+Spanish yew and more than fifty years old, flew to splinters just
+because a treacherous string parted in the center. Sturdy hunting bows
+are not so liable to this catastrophe, but be sure you are not caught
+out in a game country with a broken string and no second. You will see
+endless opportunities to shoot. Wax is to an archer what tar is to a
+sailor; use it often, and always have two strings to your bow.
+
+
+
+
+VI
+
+
+HOW TO MAKE AN ARROW
+
+
+Fletching is a very old art and, necessarily, must have many empirical
+methods and principles involved. There are innumerable types of arrows,
+and an equal number of ways of making them. For an excellent
+description of a good way to make target arrows, the reader is referred
+to that chapter by Jackson in the book _American Archery_.
+
+Having learned several aboriginal methods of fletching and studied all
+the available literature on the subject, we have adopted the following
+maneuvers to turn out standard hunting arrows: The first requisite is
+the shaft. Having tested birch, maple, hickory, oak, ash, poplar,
+alder, red cedar, mahogany, palma brava, Philippine nara, Douglas fir,
+red pine, white pine, spruce, Port Orford cedar, yew, willow, hazel,
+eucalyptus, redwood, elderberry, and bamboo, we have adopted birch as
+the most rigid, toughest and suitable in weight for hunting arrows.
+Douglas fir and Norway pine are best for target shafts; bamboo for
+flight arrows.
+
+The commercial dowel, frequently called a maple dowel, is made of white
+birch and is exactly suited to our purpose. It may be obtained in
+quantities from dealers in hardwoods, or from sash and door mills. If
+possible, you should select these dowels yourself, to see that they are
+straight, free from cross-grain, and of a rigid quality. For hunting
+bows drawing over sixty pounds, the dowels should be three-eighths of
+an inch in diameter; for lighter bows five-sixteenths dowels should be
+used. They come in three-foot lengths and bundles of two hundred and
+fifty. It is a good plan to buy a bundle at a time and keep them in the
+attic to dry and season.
+
+Where dowels are not obtainable, you can have a hickory or birch plank
+sawed up or split into sticks half an inch in diameter, and plane these
+to the required size, or turn them on a lathe, or run them through a
+dowel-cutting machine.
+
+Take a dozen dowels from your stock and cut them to a length of
+twenty-eight and one-quarter inches, or an inch less or more according
+to the length of your arms. In doing this you should try to remove the
+worst end, keeping that portion with the straightest grain for the head
+of your shaft.
+
+Having cut them to length, take a hand plane and shave the last six
+inches of the rear end or shaftment so that the diameter is reduced to
+a trifle more than five-sixteenths of an inch at the extremity.
+
+Now comes the process of straightening your shafts. By squinting down
+the length of the dowel you can observe the crooked portions. If these
+are very bad, they should be heated gently over a gas flame and then
+bent into proper line over the base of the thumb or palm. A pair of
+gloves will protect the hand from burning. If the deviation be slight,
+then mere manual pressure is often sufficient. During this process the
+future arrow should be tested for strength. If it cannot stand
+considerable bending it deserves to break. If it is limber, discard it.
+
+Nocking the shaft comes next. Hunting arrows require no horn, bone,
+aluminum, or fiber nock. Simply place the smaller end of the shaft in a
+vise and cut the end across the grain with three hack saws bound
+together, your cut being about an eighth of an inch wide by
+three-eighths deep; finish it carefully with a file. Thus nock them all
+and sandpaper them smooth throughout, rounding the nocked end
+gracefully. To facilitate this process I place one end in a
+motor-driven chuck and hold the rapidly revolving shaft in a piece of
+sandpaper in my hand. When finished the diameter should be a trifle
+under three-eighths of an inch at the center and about five-sixteenths
+at the nock.
+
+Mark them now, where the feathers and binding should go. At a point one
+inch from the base of the nock make a circular line, this is for the
+rear binding; five inches above this make another, this is for the
+feather; one inch above this make another, this is for the front
+binding; and an inch above this make another, this is for the painted
+ribbon.
+
+Feathers come next, but really they should have come long ago. The best
+are turkey feathers, so we won't talk about any others. The time to get
+them is at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Then you should get on good
+terms with your butcher and have him save you a boxful of turkey wings.
+These you chop with a hatchet on a block, saving only the six or seven
+long pinions. Put them away with moth balls until you need them. Of
+course, if you cannot get turkey feathers when you want them, goose,
+chicken, duck, or plumes from a feather duster may be employed. Your
+milliner can tell you where to purchase goose feathers, but these are
+expensive.
+
+Cutting arrow feathers is a pleasant occupation around the fire in the
+winter evenings, and the real archer has the happiness of making his
+tackle while his mind dwells upon the coming spring shooting. As he
+makes his shaft he wonders what fate will befall it. Will it speed away
+in a futile shot, or last the grilling of a hundred practice flights,
+or will it be that fortunate arrow which flies swift and true and
+brings down the bounding deer? How often have I picked up a shaft and
+marked it, saying, "With this I'll kill a bear." And with some I've
+done it, too!
+
+So your feathers should be cut in quantity. This is the way you cut
+them: Select a good clean one, steady it between your palms while with
+your fingers you separate the bristles at the tip. Pull them apart,
+thus splitting the rib down the center. If by chance it should not
+split evenly, take your sharpened penknife and cut it straight.
+
+Have ready a little spring clip, such as is used to hold your cravat or
+magazine in a book store. One end of this is bent about a safety-pin so
+that it can be fastened to your trousers at the knee. Now you have a
+sort of knee vise to hold your feather while trimming it. Place the
+butt of the rib in the jaws of the clip and shave it down to the
+thickness of a thirty-second of an inch. Make this even and level so
+that the feather stands perpendicular to it. With a pair of long
+scissors cut off the lateral excess of rib on the concave side of the
+feather. This permits it to straighten out.
+
+At the same stage cut the feather roughly to shape; that is, five
+inches long, half an inch at the anterior end, an inch wide
+posteriorly, and having an inch of stem projecting at each extremity.
+
+For this work you must keep your pocket-knife very sharp. With practice
+you should cut a feather in two or three minutes.
+
+Donnan Smith, a worthy archer and a good fletcher, has devised a spring
+clamp which holds the feather while being cut. It is composed of a
+strong binder clip to which are soldered two thin metal jaws the size
+and shape of a properly cut feather. Having stripped his feather, he
+clamps it rib uppermost between the jaws and trims the rib with a
+knife, or on a fast-revolving emery stone, or sandpaper disc. This
+accomplished, he turns the feather around in the clamp and cuts the
+bristles to the exact shape of the metal jaws with a pair of scissors.
+It is an admirable method.
+
+Some fletchers cut their feathers on a board by eye with only a knife.
+James Duff, the well-known American maker of tackle, learned this in
+the shop of Peter Muir, the famous Scotch fletcher.
+
+If you wish to dye your feathers it may be done by obtaining the
+aniline dye used on wool. Adding about 10 per cent of vinegar to the
+aqueous solution of the stain, heat it to such a temperature that you
+can just stand your finger in it. Soak your feathers in this hot
+solution, stir them for several minutes, then lay them out on a piece
+of newspaper to dry in the sun. Red, orange, and yellow are used for
+this purpose; the former helps one to find a lost arrow, but all colors
+tend to run if wet, and stain the clothing.
+
+Having prepared a sufficient quantity of feathers, you are ready to
+fledge your shaft. Select three of a similar color, strength, and from
+the same wing of the bird. With a stick, run a little liquid glue along
+the rib of each and lay it aside. Along the axis of your arrow run
+three parallel lines of glue down the shaftment. The first of these is
+for the cock feather and should be on a line perpendicular to the nock.
+The other two are equidistant from this. A novice should mark these
+lines with a pencil at first.
+
+Now comes a difficult task, that of putting on the feathers. Many ways
+and means have been devised, and in target arrows nothing is better
+than just sticking them on by hand. Some have used clamps, some use
+pins, some lash the feathers on at the extremities with thread, and
+then glue beneath them. We take the oldest of all methods, which is
+shown in the specimens of old Saxon arrows rescued from the Nylander
+boat in Holland, [1]
+[Footnote 1: See _Archer's Register_ of 1912.]
+also depicted in many old English paintings--that of binding the
+feathers with a piece of thread running spirally up the shaft between
+the bristles.
+
+Starting at a point six inches from the nock, set your thick end of the
+rib in position on the lines of glue. Hold the shaft under your left
+arm while with the left thumb, forefinger, and middle finger steady the
+feathers as they are respectively put in place. With one end of a piece
+of cotton basting thread in your teeth and the spool in your right
+hand, start binding the ribs down to the arrow shaft. After a few turns
+proceed up the shaftment, adjusting the feathers in position as you
+rotate the arrow. Let your basting thread slip between the bristles of
+the feather about half an inch apart. When you come to the rear end,
+finish up with several overlapping turns and a half-hitch. Line up your
+feathers so that they run straight down the shaftment and are
+equidistant. Of one thing be very sure--see that your feather runs a
+trifle toward the concave side, looking from the rear, and that the
+rear end deviates quite perceptibly toward this direction. This insures
+proper steering qualities to your arrow. Set it aside and let it dry.
+
+When all are dry, remove the basting thread and trim the ribs to the
+pencil marks, leaving them about three-quarters of an inch long. Bevel
+their ends to a slender taper.
+
+The next process is that of binding the feathers in position. The
+material which we use for this purpose is known as ribonzine, a thin
+silk ribbon used to bind candy boxes. In the absence of this, floss
+silk may be employed. Cut it into pieces about a foot long. Put a
+little liquid glue on the space reserved for binding and, while
+revolving the shaft under your arm, apply the ribbon in lapping spirals
+over the feather ribs. Cover them completely and have the binding
+smooth and well sized in glue. The ribbon near the nock serves to
+protect the wood at this point from splitting. When dry, clean your
+shaft from ragged excess of glue with knife and sandpaper, and finish
+up by running a little diluted glue with a small brush along the side
+of the feather ribs to make them doubly secure.
+
+Now comes the painting.
+
+We paint arrows not so much for gayness, as to preserve them against
+moisture, to aid in finding them when lost, and to distinguish one
+man's shaft from another's.
+
+Chinese vermilion and bright orange are colors which are most
+discernible in the grass and undergrowth. With a narrow brush, paint
+between your feathers, running up slightly on to the rib, covering the
+glue. If your silk ribbon binding is a bright color--mine is green--you
+can leave it untouched. We often paint the nock a distinguishing color
+to indicate the type of head at the other end, so that in drawing the
+shaft from the quiver we can know beforehand what sort it will be. The
+livery should be painted in several different rings. My own colors are
+red, green, and white.
+
+One or two coats are applied according to the fancy of the archer. The
+line between the various pigments should be striped with a thin black
+ring.
+
+Unless you use a lathe to hold your arrows in the painting process, you
+can employ two wooden blocks or rests, one having a shallow countersunk
+hole on its lateral face to hold the nock while rotating, the other
+having a groove on its upper surface. Clamp these on a bench, or on the
+opposite arms of your easy chair before the fire, and you can turn your
+shafts slowly by hand while you steady your brush and apply the paint
+in even rings.
+
+At this stage I have added a device which seems to be helpful in
+nocking arrows in the dark, or while keeping one's eye on the game.
+Having put a drop of glue on the ribbon immediately above the nock and
+behind the cock feather, I affix a little white glass bead. One can
+feel this with his thumb as he nocks his arrow, when in conjunction
+with knots on his string, he can perform this maneuver entirely by
+touch.
+
+The paint having dried, varnish or shellac your arrow its entire
+length, avoiding, of course, any contact with the feathers. In due time
+sandpaper the shaft and repeat the varnishing. Rub this down with
+steelwool and give it a finishing touch with floor wax.
+
+Here we are ready for the arrow-heads.
+
+We use three types of points. The first is a blunt head made by binding
+the end of the shaft with thin tinned iron wire for half an inch and
+running on solder, then drilling a hole in the end of the shaft and
+inserting an inch round-headed screw. In place of soldered wire, one
+can use an empty 38-caliber cartridge, either cutting off the base or
+drilling out the priming aperture to admit the screw. This type of
+arrow we use for rough practice, shooting tin cans, trees, boxes, and
+other impedimenta. It makes a good shaft for birds, rabbits, and small
+game.
+
+A second type of head we use is made of soft steel about a sixteenth of
+an inch thick. We cut it with a hack saw into a blunt, barbed,
+lanceolate shape having a blade about an inch long and half an inch
+wide, also a tang about the same length and three-eighths of an inch
+wide.
+
+This we set into a slot sawed in the arrow in the same plane as the
+nock, and bind the shaft with tinned wire, number 30, soldered
+together. The end of the shaft has a gradual bevel where it meets the
+lateral face of the head.
+
+This is a sturdy little point and will stand much abuse. We use it for
+shooting birds, squirrels, and small vermin.
+
+But the point that we prefer to shoot is the old English broad-head.
+Starting from small dimensions, we have gradually increased its size,
+weight and strength and cutting qualities till now we shoot a head
+whose blade is three inches long, an inch and a quarter wide, a trifle
+less than a thirty-second thick. It has a haft or tubular shank an inch
+long. Its weight is half an ounce. The blades are made of spring steel.
+After annealing the steel we score it diagonally with a hack saw, when
+it may be broken in triangular pieces in a vise. With a cold chisel, an
+angular cut is made in the base to form the barbs. With a file and
+carborundum stone, they are edged and shaped into blades as sharp as
+knives. Soft, cold drawn steel will serve quite as well as spring steel
+for these blades, but it does not hold its edge. It may be purchased at
+hardware supply depots in the form of strips an inch and a half wide,
+by one-thirty-second thick, and is much easier to work than the
+tempered variety.
+
+Then taking three-eighths number .22 gauge steel or brass tubing, we
+smash it to a short bevel on the anvil, file off the corners and cut it
+to a length of an inch and three-quarters. This makes the haft or
+socket. Fixing a blade, barbs uppermost in the vise, this tubing is
+driven lightly into position, the filed edges of the beveled end
+permitting the blade to be held between the sides of the tubing. A
+small hole is drilled through the tubing and blade, and a soft iron
+wire rivet is inserted. The blade is held over a gas flame while the
+joint between it and the tubing is filled with soft soldering compound
+and ribbon solder.
+
+The heated head is plunged into water and later finished with file and
+emery cloth. The whole process of making a steel broad-head requires
+about twenty minutes. Every archer should manufacture his own. Then he
+will treat them with more respect. Very few artisans can make them, and
+if they can, their price is exorbitant.
+
+Be sure that your heads are straight and true. To set them on your
+shaft, cut the wood to fit, then heat a bit of ferrule cement and set
+them on in the same plane as the nock. In the absence of ferrule
+cement, which can be had at all sporting goods stores, one can use
+chewing gum, or better yet, a mixture of caoutchouc pitch and scale
+shellac heated together in equal parts. Heat your fixative as you would
+sealing wax, over a candle, also heat the arrow and the metal head. Put
+on with these adhesives, it seldom pulls off. In the wilds we often fix
+the head with pine resin. Glue can be used, but it is not so good.
+
+Having brought your arrows to this stage, the next act is to trim the
+feathers. First run them gently through the hand and smooth out their
+veins; then with long-bladed scissors cut them so that the anterior end
+is three-eighths of an inch high, while the posterior extremity is one
+inch. I also cut the rear tip of the feather diagonally across,
+removing about half an inch to prevent it getting in the way of the
+fingers when on the string.
+
+Mr. Arthur Young cuts his feathers in a long parabola with a die made
+of a knife blade bent into shape. These things are largely a matter of
+taste.
+
+Look your arrows over; see that they are straight and that the feathers
+are in good shape, then shoot them to observe their flight. Number them
+above the ribbon so that you can keep record of their performances. The
+weight of such an arrow is one and one-half ounces.
+
+The small blunt, barb-headed arrows we often paint red their entire
+length. Because they are meant for use in the brush, they are more
+readily lost; the bright color saves many a shaft.
+
+To make a hunting arrow requires about an hour, and one should be
+willing to look for one almost this time when it is lost. Finding
+arrows is an acquired art. Don't forget the advice of Bassanio: "In my
+school days when I had lost one shaft, I shot his fellow of the
+self-same flight, the self-same way, with more advised watch to find
+the other forth; and by adventuring both, I oft found both."
+
+If, indeed, the shaft cannot be found, then give it up with good grace,
+remembering that after all it is pleasant work to make one. Dedicate it
+to the cause of archery with the hope that in future days some one may
+pick it up and, pricking his finger on the barb, become inoculated with
+the romance of archery.
+
+When an arrow lodges in a root or tree, we work the head back and forth
+very carefully to withdraw it. A little pair of pliers comes in very
+handy here. If it is buried deeply we cut the wood away from it with a
+hunting knife. Blunt arrows, called bird bolts by Shakespeare, are best
+to shoot up in the branches of trees at winged and climbing game.
+
+In our quivers we usually carry several light shafts we call eagle
+arrows, because they are designed principally for shooting at this
+bird.
+
+Once while hunting deer, and observing a doe and fawn drinking at a
+pool, we saw a magnificent golden eagle swoop down, catch the startled
+fawn and lift it from the ground. Mr. Compton and I, having such arrows
+in our quivers, let fly at the struggling bird of prey. We came so
+close that the eagle loosened the grip of his talons and the fawn
+dropped to earth and sped off with its mother, safe for the time being.
+
+[Illustration: SEVERAL STEPS IN ARROW MAKING]
+
+Often we have shot at hawks and eagles high up in the air, where to
+reach them we needed a very light arrow, and they have had many close
+calls. For these we use a five-sixteenths dowel, feather it with short,
+low cut parabolic feathers and put a small barbed head on it about an
+inch in length. Such an arrow we paint dark green, blue, or black, so
+that the bird cannot discern its flight.
+
+It is great sport to shoot at some lazy old buzzard as he comes within
+range. He can see the ordinary arrow, and if you shoot close, he
+dodges, swoops downward, flops sidewise, twists his head round and
+round, and speeds up to leave the country. He presents the comic
+picture of a complacent old gentleman suddenly disturbed in his
+monotonous existence and frightened into a most unbecoming loss of
+dignity.
+
+Eagle arrows can be used for lofty flights, to span great canyons, to
+rout the chattering bluejay from the topmost limb of a pine, and sooner
+or later we shall pierce an eagle on the wing.
+
+We make another kind of shaft that we call a "floo-floo." In Thompson's
+_Witchery of Archery_ he describes an arrow that his Indian companion
+used, which gave forth such a fluttering whistle when in flight that
+they called it by this euphonious name. This is made by constructing
+the usual blunt screw-headed shaft and fledging it with wide uncut
+feathers. It is useful in shooting small game in the brush, because its
+flight is impeded and, missing the game, it soon loses momentum and
+stops. It does not bound off into the next county, but can be found
+near by. As a rule, these are steady, straight fliers for a short
+distance.
+
+In finishing the nock of an arrow, it should be filed so that it fits
+the string rather snugly, thus when in place it is not easily disturbed
+by the ordinary accidents of travel. Still this tightness should be at
+the entrance of the nock, while the bottom of the nock is made a trifle
+more roomy with a round file. I file all my nocks to fit a certain
+two-inch wire nail whose diameter is just that of my bowstring.
+
+After arrows have been shot for a time and their feathers have settled,
+they should again be trimmed carefully to their final proportions. The
+heads, if found too broad for perfect flight, should be ground a trifle
+narrower.
+
+When hunting, one does well to carry in his pocket a small flat file
+with which to sharpen his broad-heads before shooting them. They should
+have a serrated, meat-cutting edge. Even carrying arrows in a quiver
+tends to dull them, because they chafe each other while in motion. From
+time to time you should rub the shafts and heads with the mixture of
+cedar and linseed oil, thus keeping them clean and protected from
+dampness.
+
+On a hunting trip an archer should carry with him in his repair kit,
+extra feathers, heads, cement, a tube of glue, ribonzine, linen thread,
+wax, paraffin, sandpaper, emery cloth, pincers, file and small
+scissors. With these he can salvage many an arrow that otherwise would
+be too sick to shoot.
+
+Extra arrows are carried in a light wooden box which has little
+superimposed racks on which they rest and are kept from crushing each
+other.
+
+As a rule, nothing does an arrow so much good as to shoot it, and
+nothing so much harm as to have it lie inactive and crowded in the
+quiver.
+
+The flight of an arrow is symbolic of life itself. It springs from the
+bow with high aim, flies toward the blue heaven above, and seems to
+have immortal power. The song of its life is sweet to the ear. The rush
+of its upward arc is a promise of perpetual progress. With perfect
+grace it sweeps onward, though less aspiring. Then fluttering
+imperceptibly, it points downward and with ever-increasing speed,
+approaches the earth, where, with a deep sigh, it sinks in the soil,
+quivers with spent energy, and capitulates to the inevitable.
+
+
+
+
+VII
+
+
+ARCHERY EQUIPMENT
+
+
+Besides a bow and arrow, the archer needs to have a quiver, a bow case,
+a waterproof quiver case, an arm guard or bracer, and a shooting glove
+or leather finger tips. Our quivers are made of untanned deer hide,
+usually from deer shot with the bow. The hide, having been properly
+cleaned, stretched, and dried, is cut down the center, each half making
+a quiver. Marking a quadrilateral outline twenty-four inches on two
+sides, twelve at the larger end, and nine at the smaller, in such a way
+that the hair points from the larger to the smaller end; cut this piece
+and soak it in water until soft, and wash it clean with soap. At the
+same time cut a circular piece off the tough neck skin, three inches in
+diameter.
+
+With a furrier's needle having three sharp edges, and heavy waxed
+thread, or better yet, with catgut, sew up the longer sides of the skin
+with a simple overcast stitch. Let the hair side be in while sewing. In
+the smaller end sew the circular bottom. Invert the quiver on a stick;
+turn back a cuff of hide one inch deep at the top. To do this nicely,
+the hair should be clipped away at this point. This cuff stiffens the
+mouth of the quiver and keeps it always open.
+
+Now put your quiver over a wooden form to dry.
+
+[Illustration: ARROW HEADS OF VARIOUS SORTS USED IN HUNTING]
+
+I have one like a shoemaker's last, made of two pieces of wood
+separated by a thin slat which can be removed, permitting easy
+withdrawal of the quiver after drying. When dry, your quiver will be
+about twenty-two inches deep, four inches across the top, and slightly
+conical.
+
+Cut a strip of deer hide eight inches long by one and a half wide,
+shave it, double the hair side in, and attach it to the seamy side of
+the quiver by perforating the leather and inserting a lacing of
+buckskin thongs. Leave the loop of this strap projecting two inches
+above the top of the quiver. In the bottom of your quiver drop a round
+piece of felt or carpet to prevent the arrow points coming through the
+hide.
+
+If you are not so fortunate as to have deer hide, you may use any stiff
+leather, or even canvas. This latter can be made stiff by painting or
+varnishing it.
+
+Such a receptacle will hold a dozen broad-heads very comfortably and
+several more under pressure. It should swing from a belt at the right
+hip in such a way that in walking it does not touch the leg, while in
+shooting it is accessible to the right hand or may then be shifted
+slightly to the front for convenience.
+
+In running we usually grasp the quiver in the right hand, not only to
+prevent it interfering with locomotion, but to keep the arrows from
+rattling and falling out. When on the trail of an animal we habitually
+stuff a twig of leaves, a bunch of ferns or a bit of grass in the mouth
+of the quiver to damp the soft rustling of the arrows. Sometimes, in
+going through brush or when running, we carry the quiver on a belt
+slung over the left shoulder. Here they are out of the way and give the
+legs full action.
+
+To keep the arrows dry, and to cover them while traveling, we make a
+sheath for the quiver of waterproof muslin. This is long enough to
+cover the arrows and has a wire ring a bit larger than the top of the
+quiver sewn in the cloth some three inches from the upper end. This
+keeps the feathers from being crushed. The mouth of this cover is
+closed with a drawstring. On the side adjacent to the strap of the
+quiver, an aperture is cut to permit this being brought through and
+fastened to the belt.
+
+The bow itself has a long narrow case made of the same cloth, or
+canvas, or green baize with a drawstring at the top and a leather tip
+at the bottom. Where several bows are packed together, each has a
+woolen bow case and all are carried in a canvas bag, composition
+carrying cylinder, or in a wooden bow box. In hunting we prefer the
+canvas bag, but you must carry it yourself, any one else will break
+your bows.
+
+The bracer, or arm guard, is a cuff of leather worn on the left forearm
+to prevent the stroke of the bowstring doing damage. Some archers can
+shoot without this protection, but others, because of their style of
+shooting or their anatomical formation, need it. It can be made like a
+butcher's cuff, some six or eight inches long, partially surrounding
+the forearm and fastened by three little straps or by lacing in the
+back. Another form is simply a strip of thin sole leather from two to
+three inches wide by eight long, having little straps and buckles
+attached to hold it in position on the flexor surface of the wrist and
+forearm.
+
+[Illustration: NECESSARY ARCHERY EQUIPMENT]
+
+The bracer not only keeps the arm from injury, but makes for a clean
+release of the arrow. Anything such as a coat sleeve touching the
+bowstring when in action, diverts the arrow in its flight. On the
+sleeve of your shooting jersey you can sew a piece of leather for an
+arm guard.
+
+While one may pick up a bow and shoot a few shots without a glove or
+finger protection, he soon will be compelled to cease because of
+soreness. Doubtless the ancient yeoman, a horny-handed son of toil,
+needed no glove. But we know that even in those days a tab of leather
+was held in the hand to prevent the string from hurting. The glove
+probably is of more modern use and quite in favor among target archers.
+We have found it rather hot in hunting, so have resorted to leather
+finger tips. These are best made of pigskin or cordovan leather, which
+is horse hide. This should be about a sixteenth of an inch thick and
+cut to such a form that the tips enclose the finger on the palmar
+surface up to the second joint and leave an oval opening over the
+knuckle and upper part of the finger nail. The best way to make them is
+to mould a piece of paper about each of the first three fingers on the
+right hand, gathering the paper on the back and crimping it with the
+thumb nail to show where to cut the pattern. Lay the paper out flat and
+cut it approximately according to the illustrated form.
+
+Transferring these outlines to the leather, cut three pieces
+accordingly, soak them in water and sew them. This stitching is best
+done by previously punching holes along the edges with a fine awl and
+sewing an overcast stitch of waxed linen thread which, having reached
+the end, returns backward on its course through the same holes. This
+makes a criss-cross effect which is strong and pleasing to the eye.
+
+The ends of the finger cots should be sewed closed, protecting the
+fingers from injury and keeping out dirt. While the leather is still
+soft and damp, place the tips on the fingers and press them home. At
+the same time flex them strongly at the joints and try to keep them
+bent there. Such angulation helps not only in holding the bowstring,
+but keeps the tip from coming off under pressure. When dry, these
+leather stalls should be numbered according to the finger to which they
+belong, coated lightly with thin glue on the inside and waxed on the
+outer surface. Then they are ready for use.
+
+An archer should have two sets of tips so that, should misfortune
+befall him and he loses one, he is not altogether undone. When not in
+use keep them in your pocket or strung on the strap of your bracer. In
+by-gone days they were sewed to straps which fastened to a wrist belt,
+thus were more secure from loss, but more cumbersome.
+
+From time to time oil your tips and always keep them from being
+roughened or scratched. With a small amount of glue in the tip one has
+only to moisten his fingers in his mouth and the leather stall will
+stick on firmly. We have also used lead plaster of the pharmacopoeia
+for the same adhesive purpose.
+
+In the absence of pockets in ancient days, the archer carried his extra
+equipment in a wallet slung at his waist. Even now it seems a handy
+thing to have a deerskin wallet six by eight inches, by an inch or more
+deep. I frequently carry my tips, extra string, wax, file wrapped in a
+cloth, and a bit of lunch, in such a receptacle.
+
+With his bow, his quiver, a wallet, our modern archer is ready and
+could step into Sherwood Forest feeling quite at home.
+
+
+
+
+VIII
+
+
+HOW TO SHOOT
+
+
+First, brace your bow. To do this properly, grasp it at the handle with
+your right hand, the upper horn upward and the back toward you. Place
+the lower horn at the instep of your right foot, and the base of your
+left palm against the back of the bow, near the top below the loop of
+the string. Holding your left arm stiff and toward your left side, your
+right elbow fixed on your hip, pull up on the handle by twisting your
+body so that the bow is sprung away from you. The string is now
+relaxed, and the fingers of the left hand push it upward till it slips
+in the nock.
+
+Don't try to force the string, and don't get your fingers caught
+beneath it. Do most of the work with the right hand pulling against the
+rigid left arm.
+
+The proper distance between the bow and the string at the handle is six
+inches. This is ordinarily measured by setting the fist on the handle
+and the thumb sticking upright, where it should touch the string. This
+is the ancient fistmele, an archer's measure, also used in measuring
+lumber.
+
+Hunting bows should be strung a little less than this because of the
+prolonged strain on them. Target bows shoot cleaner when higher strung.
+
+Change your bow to your left hand and drop the arm so that the upper
+end of the bow swings across the body in a horizontal position. Draw an
+arrow from the quiver with the right hand and carry it across the bow
+till it rests on the left side at the top of the handle. Place the left
+forefinger over the shaft and keep it from slipping while you shift
+your right hand to the arrow-nock, thumb uppermost. Push the arrow
+forward, at the same time rotating it until the cock feather, or that
+perpendicular to the nock, is away from the bow. As the feathers pass
+over the string and the thumb still rests on the nock, slip the fingers
+beneath the string and fit it in the arrow-nock.
+
+Now turn the bow upright and remove your left forefinger from its
+position across the shaft. The arrow should rest on the knuckles
+without lateral support. Now place your fingers in position for
+shooting. The release used by the old English is the best. This
+consists in placing three fingers on the string, one above the arrow,
+two below. The string rests midway between the last joint and the tip
+of the finger. The thumb should not touch the arrow, but lie curled up
+in the palm.
+
+The release used by children consists in pinching the arrow between the
+thumb and forefinger, and is known as the primary loose. This type is
+not strong enough to draw an arrow half way on a hunting bow.
+
+Stand sidewise to your mark, with the feet eight or ten inches apart,
+at right angles to the line of shot. Straighten your body, stiffen the
+back, expand the chest, turn the head fully facing the mark, look at it
+squarely, and draw your bow across the body, extending the left arm as
+you draw the right hand toward the chin.
+
+Draw the arrow steadily, in the exact plane of your mark, so that when
+the full draw is obtained and the arrowhead touches the left hand, the
+right forefinger touches a spot on the jaw perpendicularly below the
+right eye and the right elbow is in a continuous line with the arrow.
+This point on the jaw below the eye is fixed and never varies; no
+matter how close or how far the shot, the butt of the arrow is always
+drawn to the jaw, not to the eye, nor to the ear. Thus the eye glances
+along the entire length of the shaft and keeps it in perfect line. The
+bow hand may be lowered or raised to obtain the proper elevation and
+length of flight. The left arm is held rigidly but not absolutely
+extended and locked at the elbow. A slight degree of flexion here makes
+for a good clearance of the string and adds resiliency to the shot.
+
+The arrow is released by drawing the right hand further backward at the
+same time the fingers slip off the string. This must be done so firmly,
+yet deftly, that no loss of power results, and the releasing hand does
+not draw the arrow out of line. Two great faults occur at this point:
+one is to permit the arrow to creep forward just before the release,
+and the other is to draw the hand away from the face in the act of
+releasing. Keep your fingers flexed and your hand by your jaw. All the
+fingers of the right hand must bear their proper share of work. The
+great tendency is to permit the forefinger to shirk and to put too much
+work on the ring finger.
+
+If the arrow has a tendency to fall away from the bow, tip the upper
+limb ten degrees to the right and pull more on the right forefinger,
+also start the draw with the fingers more acutely flexed, so that as
+the arrow is pinched between the first and second fingers and as they
+tend to straighten out under the pressure of the string, the arrow is
+pressed against the bow, not away from it.
+
+In grasping the bow with the left hand, it should rest comfortably in
+the palm and loosely at the beginning of the draw. The knuckle at the
+base of the thumb should be opposite the center of the bow, the hand
+set straight on the wrist. As you draw, be sure that the arrow comes up
+in a straight line with your mark, otherwise the bow will be twisted in
+the grasp and deflect the shot. Then fully drawn, set the grasp of the
+left hand without disturbing the position of the bow, make the left arm
+as rigid as an oak limb; fix the muscles of the chest; make yourself
+inflexible from head to toe. Keep your right elbow up and rivet your
+gaze upon your mark; release in a direct line backward. Everything must
+be under the greatest tension, any weakening spoils your flight.
+
+The method of aiming in game shooting consists in fixing binocular
+vision on the object to be hit, drawing the nock of the arrow beneath
+the right eye and observing that the head of the arrow is in a direct
+line with the mark by the indirect vision of the right eye. Both eyes
+are open, both see the mark, but only the right observes the arrowhead,
+the left ignores it. Your vision must be so concentrated upon one point
+that all else fades from view. Just two things exist--your mark and
+your arrowhead.
+
+At a range of sixty or eighty yards, the head of the arrow seems to
+touch the mark while aiming. This is called point blank range. At
+shorter lengths the archer must estimate the distance below the mark on
+which his arrow seems to rest in order to rise in a parabolic curve and
+strike the spot. At greater ranges he must estimate a distance above
+the mark on which he holds his arrow in order to drop it on the object
+of his shot.
+
+If his shaft flies to the left, it is because he has not drawn the nock
+beneath his right eye, or he has thrown his head out of line, or the
+string has hit his shirt sleeve or something has deflected the arrow.
+
+If it falls to the right, it is because he has made a forward, creeping
+release, or weakened in his bow arm, or in drawing to the center of the
+jaw instead of the angle beneath the eye.
+
+If the arrow rattles on the bow as it is released, or slaps it hard in
+passing, it is because it is not drawn up in true line, or because it
+fits too tightly on the string, or because the release is creeping and
+weak. Always draw fully up to the barb.
+
+If his arrows drop low and all else is right, it is because he has not
+kept his tension, or has lowered his bow arm.
+
+After the arrow is released, the archer should hold his posture a
+second, bow arm rigidly extended, drawing hand to his jaw, right elbow
+horizontal. This insures that he maintains the proper position during
+the shot. There should be no jerking, swinging, or casting motions; all
+must be done evenly and deliberately.
+
+The shaft should fly from the bowstring like a bird, without quaver or
+flutter. All depends upon a sharp resilient release.
+
+Having observed all the prerequisites of good shooting, nothing so
+insures a keen, true arrow flight as an effort of supreme tension
+during the release. The chest is held rigid in a position of moderate
+inspiration, the back muscles are set and every tendon is drawn into
+elastic strain; in fact, to be successful, the whole act should be
+characterized by the utmost vigor.
+
+To get the best instructions for shooting the bow, one should read Sir
+Roger Ascham in _Toxophilus_, and Horace Ford on _Archery._
+
+Game shooting differs from target shooting in that with the latter a
+point of aim is used, and the archer fixes his eyes upon this point
+which is perpendicular above or below the bull's-eye. The arrowhead is
+held on the point of aim, and when loosed, flies not along the line of
+vision, but describes a curve upward, descends and strikes not the
+point of aim, but the bull's-eye.
+
+The field archer should learn to estimate distances correctly by eye.
+He should practice pacing measured lengths, so that he can tell how
+many yards any object may be from him.
+
+In hunting he should make a mental note of this before he shoots. In
+fact we nearly always call the number of yards before we loose the
+arrow.
+
+Where a strong cross-wind exists, a certain amount of windage is
+allowed. But up to sixty yards the lateral deflexion from wind is
+negligible; past this it may amount to three or four feet.
+
+In clout shooting and target practice, one must take wind into
+consideration. In hunting we only consider it when approaching game, as
+a carrier of scent, because our hunting ranges are well under a hundred
+yards and our heavy hunting shafts tack into the wind with little
+lateral drift.
+
+
+[Illustration: AN ARCHER'S MEASURE, A FISTMELE]
+
+
+[Illustration: THE ENGLISH METHOD OF DRAWING THE ARROW]
+
+
+[Illustration: NOCKING THE SHAFT ON THE STRING]
+
+
+[Illustration: THE LONG BOW FULL DRAWN]
+
+
+No matter how much a man may shoot, he is forever struggling with his
+technique. I remember getting a letter from an old archer who had shot
+the bow for more than fifty years. He was past seventy and had to
+resort to a thirty-five pound weapon. He complained that his release
+was faulty, but he felt that with a little more practice he could
+perfect his loose and make a perfect shot. Since writing he has entered
+the Happy Hunting Grounds, still a trifle off in form.
+
+Even a sylvan archer needs to practice form at the targets. He should
+study the game from its scientific principles as formulated by Horace
+Ford, the greatest target shot ever known.
+
+The point-of-aim system and target practice improve one's hunting.
+Hunting, on the other hand, spoils one's target work. The use of heavy
+bows so accustoms the muscles to gross reactions that they fail to
+adjust themselves to the finer requirements of light bows and to the
+precise technique of the target range.
+
+The field archer gets his practice by going out in the open and
+shooting at marks of any sort, at all distances, from five to two
+hundred yards. A bush, a stray piece of paper, a flower, a shadow on
+the grass, all are objects for his shafts.
+
+The open heath, shaded forest, hills and dales, all make good grounds.
+As he comes over a knoll a bush on the farther side represents a deer,
+he shoots instantly. He must learn to run, to stop short and shoot,
+fresh or weary he must be able to draw his bow and discharge one arrow
+after another. With the bow unstrung walking along the trail, often we
+have stopped at the word of command, strung the bow, drawn an arrow
+from the quiver, nocked it, and discharged it within the space of five
+seconds. Deliberation, however, is much more desirable.
+
+Let several archers go into the fields together and roam over the land,
+aiming at various marks; it makes for robust and accurate game
+shooting.
+
+Shooting an exact line is much easier than getting the exact length.
+For this reason it is easier to split the willow wand at sixty or
+eighty yards than it seems.
+
+Often we have tried this feat to amuse ourselves or our friends, and
+seldom more than six arrows are needed to strike such a lath or stick
+at this distance. Hitting objects tossed in the air is not so difficult
+either. A small tin can or box thrown fifteen or twenty feet upward at
+a distance of ten or fifteen yards can be hit nearly every time,
+especially if the archer waits until it just reaches the apex of its
+course and shoots when it is practically stationary.
+
+Shooting at swinging objects helps to train one in leading running or
+flying game.
+
+Turtle shooting, that form in which the arrow is discharged directly
+upward and is supposed to drop on the mark, is difficult and attended
+with few hits, but it trains one in estimating wind drift.
+
+An archer should also learn the elevation or trajectory at which his
+arrows fly at various distances. Shooting in the woods over hanging
+limbs may interfere with a good shot. In this case the archer can kneel
+and thus lower his flight to avoid interception.
+
+In kneeling it seems that the right knee should be on the ground, while
+the left foot is forward. This is a natural pose to assume during
+walking, and the left thigh should be held out of the way of the
+bow-string. When not in use, but braced, the bow should be carried in
+the left hand, the string upward, the tip pointing forward. It never
+should be swung about like a club nor shouldered like a gun.
+
+Shooting from horseback is not impossible, but it must be done off the
+left side of the horse, and a certain amount of practice is necessary
+for the horse as well as for the archer.
+
+It is surprising how accurately one can shoot at night. Even the
+dimmest outline will serve the bowman, and his shaft has an uncanny way
+of finding the mark.
+
+When it comes to missing the mark, that is the subject for a sad story.
+It takes an inveterate optimist to stand the moral strain of persistent
+missing. In fact, it is this that spoils the archery career of many a
+tyro--he gives up in despair. It looks so easy, but really is so
+difficult to hit the mark. But do not be cast down, keep eternally at
+practice, and ultimately you will be rewarded. Nothing stands a man in
+such good stead in this matter as to have started shooting in his
+youth.
+
+And do not imagine that we are infallible in our shooting. Some of the
+most humiliating moments of our lives have come through poor shooting.
+Just when we wanted to do our best, before an expectant gathering, we
+have done our most stupid missing. But even this has its compensations
+and inures us to defeat.
+
+It is a striking fact that we shoot better when confronted by the game
+itself. Under actual hunting conditions you will hit closer to your
+point than on the target field.
+
+Study every move for clean, accurate shooting, and analyze your
+failures so that you can correct your faults. Extreme care and utmost
+effort will be rewarded by greater accuracy.
+
+Other things being equal, it is the man who shoots with his heart in
+his bow that hits the mark.
+
+
+
+
+IX
+
+
+THE PRINCIPLES OP HUNTING
+
+
+In the early dawn of life man took up weapons against the beasts about
+him. With club, ax, spear, knife, and sling he protected himself or
+sought his game. To strike at a distance, he devised the bow. With the
+implements of the chase he has won his way in the world.
+
+Today there is no need to battle with the beasts of prey and little
+necessity to kill wild animals for food; but still the hunting instinct
+persists. The love of the chase still thrills us and all the misty past
+echoes with the hunter's call.
+
+In the joy of hunting is intimately woven the love of the great
+outdoors. The beauty of woods, valleys, mountains, and skies feeds the
+soul of the sportsman where the quest of game only whets his appetite.
+
+After all, it is not the killing that brings satisfaction, it is the
+contest of skill and cunning. The true hunter counts his achievement in
+proportion to the effort involved and the fairness of the sport.
+
+With the rapid development of firearms, hunting tends to lose its
+sporting quality. The killing of game is becoming too easy; there is
+little triumph and less glory than in the days of yore. Game
+preservation demands a limitation of armament. We should do well to
+abandon the more powerful and accurate implements of destruction, and
+revert to the bow.
+
+Here we have a weapon of beauty and romance. He who shoots with a bow,
+puts his life's energy into it. The force behind the flying shaft must
+be placed there by the archer. At the moment of greatest strain he must
+draw every sinew to the utmost; his hand must be steady; his nerves
+under absolute control; his eye keen and clear. In the hunt he pits his
+well-trained skill against the instinctive cunning of his quarry. By
+the most adroit cleverness, he must approach within striking distance,
+and when he speeds his low whispering shaft and strikes his game, he
+has won by the strength of arm and nerve. It is a noble sport.
+
+However, not all temperaments are suited to archery. There must be
+something within the deeper memories of his inheritance to which the
+bow appeals. A mere passing fancy will not suffice to make him an
+archer. It is the unusual person who will overcome the early
+difficulties and persevere with the bow through love of it.
+
+The real archer when he goes afield enters a land of subtle delight.
+The dew glistens on the leaves, the thrush sings in the bush, the soft
+wind blows, and all nature welcomes him as she has the hunter since the
+world began. With his bow in his hand, his arrows softly rustling in
+the quiver, a horn at his back, and a hound at his heels, what more can
+a man want in life?
+
+In America our hearts have heard the low whistle of the flying arrow
+and the sweet hum of the bowstring singing in the book, _The Witchery
+of Archery_ by Maurice Thompson. To Will and Maurice Thompson we owe a
+debt of gratitude hard to pay. The tale of their sylvan exploits in the
+everglades of Florida has a charm that borders on the fay. We who shoot
+the bow today are children of their fantasy, offspring of their magic.
+As the parents of American archery, we offer them homage and honor.
+
+Ernest Thompson Seton is another patron of archery to whom all who have
+read _Two Little Savages_ must be eternally grateful. Not only has he
+given us a reviving touch of the outdoors, but he puts the bow and
+arrow in its true setting, a background of nature.
+
+When Arthur Young, Will Compton, and I began hunting with the bow, we
+wrote Will Thompson to join us. Because he is such a commanding figure
+in the history of our craft, I think it proper to quote from one of his
+letters:
+
+"MY DEAR DR. POPE:
+
+"The _Sunset Magazine_ containing your charming account of Ishi and
+your hunting adventures, and the bunch of photographs of the transfixed
+deer, quail, and rabbits came duly, and are mine, now, tomorrow, and
+for life. You were very fortunate to have won your archery triumphs
+where you could photograph them. I would give much indeed if I could
+have photos of the scenes of my brother's and my successes in the
+somber and game-thronged wilds of the gloomy Okefinokee Swamp. I think
+I sent you long ago the two numbers of _Forest and Stream_ in which the
+history of that most wonderful of all my outings appeared. If I did not
+do so I will loan you the only copy I have. Let me know.
+
+"I am glad, so glad, that you young athletic men are following the wild
+trails armed with the most romantic weapon man ever fashioned, and I
+would give almost any precious thing I hold to fare with you once to
+the game land of your choice, and to watch and wait by a slender trail
+while you and your young, strong comrades stole through the secret
+haunts of the wild things, and to listen to the faint footfalls of the
+coming deer, roused by your entrance into their secret lairs. To see
+the soft and devious approach of the wary thing; to see the lifted
+light head turned sharply back toward the evil that roused it from its
+bed of ferns; to feel the strong bow tightening in my hand as the thin,
+hard string comes back; to feel the leap of the loosened cord, the jar
+of the bow, and see the long streak of the going shaft, and hear the
+almost sickening 'chuck' of the stabbing arrow. No one can know how I
+have loved the woods, the streams, the trails of the wild, the ways of
+the things of slender limbs, of fine nose, of great eager ears, of mild
+wary eyes, and of vague and half-revealed forms and colors. I have been
+their friend and mortal enemy. I have so loved them that I longed to
+kill them. But I gave them far more than a fair chance.
+
+"How many I have missed to one I have killed! How often the fierce
+arrow hissed its threat close by the wide ears! How often the puff of
+lifted feathers has marked the innocuous passage of my very best arrow!
+How often the roar of wings has replied to the 'chuck' of my
+steel-head shaft as it stabbed the tree branch under the grouse's feet!
+_Oh, le bon temps, que de siecle de fer_.
+
+"Let me know whether I sent you _Deep in Okefinokee Swamp_. I enclose
+you a little poem published long ago in _Forest and Stream_ and picked
+up by the _Literary Digest_ and other periodicals. You will, I think,
+feel the love of the bow, and the outdoors, as well as the great cry
+for the lost brother running through the long sob that pervades it.
+
+"Send me anything you publish, for I know I should be pleased. Love to
+you and a handgrasp to your comrade archers.
+
+"WILL THOMPSON."
+
+
+After the Civil War, where both youths fought in the Confederate Army
+and Maurice was wounded, they returned to their Southern home, broken
+in health, reduced in circumstances, and deprived of firearms by
+Government restrictions. They turned to the bow and hunting as
+naturally as a boy turns to play. Out of their experiences we have a
+lyric of exquisite purity, _The Witchery of Archery_.
+
+As a result of the interest stimulated by the recount of their
+exploits, the National Archery Association was established and held its
+first tournament at Chicago in the year 1879. It has ever since
+nurtured the sport and furthered competitive enthusiasm.
+
+Maurice later became a noted author, Will an attorney-at-law, the dean
+of American archers and a poet of remarkably happy expression. Here I
+feel at liberty to insert one of Will Thompson's verses, sent me in
+personal communications:
+
+  AN ARROW SONG
+
+  A song from green Floridian vales I heard,
+  Soft as the sea-moan when the waves are slow;
+  Sweeter than melody of brook or bird,
+  Keener than any winds that breathe or blow;
+  A magic music out of memory stirred,
+  A strain that charms my heart to overflow
+  With such vast yearning that my eyes are blurred.
+  Oh, song of dreams, that I no more shall know!
+  Bewildering carol without spoken word!
+  Faint as a stream's voice murmuring under snow,
+  Sad as a love forevermore deferred,
+  Song of the arrow from the Master's bow,
+  Sung in Floridian vales long, long ago.
+
+  WILL H. THOMPSON.
+
+  _A memory of my brother Maurice._
+
+The Thompsons devoted much of their bow shooting to birds. Not only did
+they hunt, but they studied the abundant avian life of the Florida
+coast.
+
+An archer must always, perforce, study animate nature and learn its
+ways before he can capture it. In our early training with Ishi, the
+Indian, he taught us to look before he taught us to shoot. "Little bit
+walk, too much look," was his motto. The roving eye and the light step
+are the signs of the forest voyageur.
+
+The ideal way for an archer to travel is to carry on his shoulders a
+knapsack containing a light sleeping bag and enough food to last him a
+week. With me this means coffee, tea, sugar, canned milk, dried fruit,
+rice, cornmeal, flour and baking powder mixture, a little bacon,
+butter, and seasoning. This will weigh less than ten pounds. With other
+minor appurtenances in the ditty bag, including an arrow-repairing kit,
+one's burden is less than twenty pounds, an easy load.
+
+If you have a dog, make him carry his own dry meal in little
+saddle-bags on his back, as Dan Beard suggests. Then, with two dozen
+arrows in your quiver, and your bow, the open trail lies ahead. There
+is always meat to be had for the shooting. The camp fire and your dog
+are companions at night, and at dawn all the world rolls out before you
+as you go. It is a happy life!
+
+When Ishi started to shoot with me, one bowman after another appeared
+on the scene to join us. Among the first came Will Compton, a man of
+mature years and many experiences. Brought up on the plains, he learned
+to shoot the bow with the Sioux Indians. As a boy of fourteen he shot
+his first deer with an arrow. From that time on, deer, elk, antelope,
+birds of all sorts, and even buffalo fell before this primitive weapon.
+He later hunted with the gun until the very ease of killing turned him
+against it. So when he came to us, he was a seasoned archer. Upon a
+visit to a Japanese archery gallery in the Panama-Pacific Exposition he
+met for the first time Arthur Young, also an expert hunter with the
+gun. A friendship sprang up between them, and Compton taught Young to
+shoot the bow.
+
+Compton had worked in the shop of Barnes, the bowmaker of Forest Grove,
+Oregon, and later he went into the Cascade Mountains and cut yew staves
+with an idea of selling them to the English bowyers. The Great War of
+1914 prevented this, and so we had an unlimited supply of yew wood for
+use.
+
+We three gravitated together and shot with Ishi until his last sickness
+and departure. Then our serious work began. We found it not only a
+delightful way of hunting, but a trio makes success more certain in the
+field.
+
+In California there is an abundance of game; small animals exist
+everywhere and there is no better training than to stalk the wary
+ground squirrel or the alert cottontail. These every archer should
+school himself to hit before he ventures after larger beasts.
+
+Infinite patience and practice are needed to make a hunter. He must
+earn his right to take life by the painful effort of constant shooting.
+
+We shot together, and many are the bags of game we filled. We
+discovered in the humble ground squirrel a delectable morsel more
+palatable than chicken; re-discovered it, we may say, because the
+Indian knew it first. In killing these little pests we take to the open
+fields, approach a burrow by creeping up a gully or dip in the land,
+rise up and shoot at such distances as we can. I recall one day when
+Young and I got twenty-four squirrels with the bow. Upon another
+occasion Young by himself secured seventeen in one morning; the last
+five were killed with five successive arrows, the last squirrel being
+forty-two paces away.
+
+Rabbits are best hunted in company. Here the startled rodent skips
+briskly off, down his accustomed run, only to meet another archer
+standing motionless, ready with his arrow.
+
+It seems legitimate with this rudimentary weapon to shoot animals on
+the stand, or set, a sporting permit not granted to the devotee of the
+shotgun, who has a hundred chances to our one.
+
+We found from the very first that the arrow was more humane than the
+gun. Counting all hunters, for every animal brought home with the gun,
+whether duck, quail, or deer, at least two are hit and die in pain in
+the brush.
+
+Just to illustrate this, Mr. Young reported to me the results of his
+shooting with a small rifle at ground squirrels. So expert is he that
+to hit a squirrel in any spot but the head is quite unusual. In one
+day's shooting between himself and his young son, they hit thirty-six
+animals, sixteen of these escaped and disappeared down their burrows,
+there to die later of their wounds.
+
+
+[Illustration: THE PATRON SAINTS OF AMERICAN ARCHERY, WILL AND MAURICE
+THOMPSON, AS THEY APPEARED IN 1878]
+
+
+With the arrow it is different. Not only is the destructive power as
+great as a small bullet, but the shaft holds the animal so that it
+cannot escape. Practically none are lost in our hunts. A strange
+phenomenon is seen in larger animals; they are easier to kill with an
+arrow than small ones. A shot in either the chest or abdominal cavity
+of a deer is invariably fatal in a few minutes; while a rabbit may
+carry an arrow off until the obstructing undergrowth checks his flight.
+It seems that their vital areas and blood vessels being smaller, are
+less readily injured by the missile. A bullet can crash into the brain
+of an animal, tear out a mass of tissue and generally shatter his
+structure, but cause little bleeding. An arrow wound is clean-cut and
+the hemorrhage is tremendous, but if not immediately fatal, it heals
+readily and does little harm. The pain is no greater with the arrow
+than with the bullet.
+
+Our hunting of squirrel and rabbits was merely preparatory to the
+taking of larger game; but even on our more pretentious expeditions, we
+fill the vacant hours with lesser shooting and fill the camp kettle
+with sweet tidbits.
+
+Many a quail, partridge, sage hen, or grouse has flown from the heather
+into our bag transfixed by a feathered shaft. Both Compton and Young
+have shot ducks and geese, some on the wing. But we cannot compete with
+the experiences of Maurice Thompson who, shooting ninety-eight arrows,
+landed sixteen ducks on the wing.
+
+Some amusing incidents have occurred in bird shooting. We consider the
+bluejay a legitimate mark any day; he is a rascal of the deepest dye,
+so we always shoot at him. Compton once tried one of his long shots at
+a jay on the ground nearly eighty yards off. His line was good, but his
+shot fell short. The arrow skidded and struck the bird in the tail just
+as he left the ground for flight. The two rose together and sailed off
+into space, like an aeroplane, with a preposterously long rudder, the
+arrow out behind. They slowly wheeled in a circle a hundred yards in
+diameter when the bird, nearing the archer, fell exhausted at his feet.
+Compton picked up the jay, drew the arrow from the shallow skin wound
+above his tail, and tossed him in the air. He disappeared with a volley
+of expletives.
+
+With an arrow it is also possible to shoot fish. Many wise old trout,
+incurious and contented, deep in the shadowed pool, have been coaxed to
+the frying pan through the archer's skill. Well I recall once, how
+shooting fish not only brought us meat, but changed our luck. Young and
+I were on a bear hunt. It had been a long, weary and unsuccessful quest
+of the elusive beast. Bears seemed to have become extinct, so we took
+to shooting trout in a quiet little meadow stream. Having buried an
+arrow in the far bank, with a short run and a leap Young cleared the
+brook and landed on the greensward beyond. The succulent turf slipped
+beneath his feet and, like an acrobat, the archer turned a back
+somersault into the cold mountain water. Bow, clattering arrows,
+camera, field glasses and man, all sank beneath the limpid surface.
+With a shout of laughter he clambered to the bank, his faithful bow
+still in his hand, his quiver empty of arrows, but full of water. After
+a hasty salvage of all damaged goods, we journeyed along, no worse for
+the wetting. But immediately we began to see bear signs and ultimately
+got our bruin. Young later said that if he had known the change of luck
+that went with a good ducking, he would have tried it sooner.
+
+We have often been asked if we do not poison our arrow points. Most
+people seem to have the idea that an arrow is too impotent to cause
+death; they conceive it a refined sort of torture and have no
+conception of its destructive nature.
+
+It is true that we thought at first of putting poison on our arrows
+intended for lions, and we did coat some broad-heads with mucilage and
+powdered strychnine, but we never used them. My physiologic experiments
+with curare, the South American arrow poison, aconitin, the Japanese
+Ainu poison, and buffogen, the Central American poison, had convinced
+me that strychnine was more deadly. It would not harm the meat in the
+dilution obtained in the blood, and it was cheap and effective.
+
+Buffogen is obtained by the natives by taking the tropical toad, Buffo
+Nigra, enclosing it in a segment of bamboo, heating this over a slow
+fire and gathering the exuded juice of the dessicated batrachian. It is
+a very powerful substance, having an action similar to that of
+adrenalin and strychnine.
+
+Salamandrine, an extract obtained from the macerated skin of the common
+red water-dog, is also violently toxic.
+
+But we had a disgust for these things. We soon learned, moreover, that
+our arrows were sufficient without these adjuncts, and we deemed it
+unsportsmanlike to consider them. Therefore, we abandoned the idea.
+
+Ishi knew of the employment of these killing substances, but he did not
+use them. In his tribe they made a poison by teasing a rattlesnake and
+having it strike a piece of deer's liver. This was later buried in the
+ground until it rotted, and the arrow points were smeared with this
+revolting material. It was a combination of crotalin venom and ptomaine
+poisons, a very deadly mess.
+
+We much prefer the bright, clean knife-blade of our broad-heads to any
+other missile.
+
+The principles involved in seeking game with the bow and arrow are
+those of the still hunt, only more refined.
+
+An archer's striking distance extends from ten to one hundred yards.
+For small animals it lies between ten and forty; for large game from
+forty to eighty or a hundred. The distance at which most small game
+flush varies with the country in which they live, the nature of their
+enemies, and the prevalence of hunters. Quail and rabbits usually will
+permit a man to approach them within twenty or thirty yards. This they
+have learned is a safe distance for a fox or wildcat who must hurl
+himself at them. It is quite a fair distance for any man with any
+weapon, particularly the bow.
+
+Most small game, especially rabbits, have sufficient curiosity to stand
+after their first startled retreat. Beneath a bush or clump of weeds
+they squat and watch on the _qui vive_. The arrow may find them there
+when it strikes, but often the very flash of its departure and the
+quick movement of the hand send the little beastie flying to his cover.
+Here two sportsmen working together succeed better; one attracts the
+rabbit's attention, the other shoots the shot.
+
+
+[Illustration: SHOOTING BRUSH RABBITS]
+
+
+[Illustration: ARCHERS IN AMBUSH]
+
+
+[Illustration: ISHI RIDING A HORSE FOR THE FIRST TIME]
+
+
+The marmot or woodchuck, is an impudent and cautious animal and he is a
+difficult mark for a bowman's aim. But nothing has more comic
+situations than an afternoon spent in a ground-hog village. After an
+incontinent scuttle to his burrow, an old warrior backs into his hole,
+then brazenly lifts his head and fastens his glittering eye upon you.
+The contest of quickness then begins; the archer and the marmot play
+shoot and dodge until one after the other all the arrows are exhausted
+or a hit is registered. The ground-hog never quits. I can recall one
+strenuous noon hour in an outcropping of rock where, between shattered
+arrows, precipitous chasing of transfixed old warriors, defiant
+whistlers on all sides, we piled up nearly a dozen victims.
+
+Quail hunting requires careful shooting, but it is good training for
+the bowman. A sentinel cock, sitting on a low limb, warns his covey of
+our approach, but he himself makes a gallant mark for the archer. I saw
+Compton spit such a bird on his arrow at fifty yards, while a confused
+scurrying flock made easy shooting for two hunters. I am ashamed to say
+that we have often taken advantage of the evening roosting of these
+birds in trees to secure a supper for ourselves.
+
+But the archer must exercise caution in this team work in the brush. He
+should never forget that an arrow will kill a man as readily as it does
+an animal and that one should always consider where his shot ultimately
+will land, both for the purpose of finding his shaft and avoiding
+accidents. Arrows have a great habit of glancing. Once when hunting
+quail in a patch of willow in a dry wash, Compton shot at a bird on a
+branch, missed it, and at the same instant Young, who was on the
+opposite side of the thicket, heard a thwack at his right and turned to
+find a broad-head arrow buried up to the barbs in a willow limb just
+the height of the heart. It gave us all pause for thought. Look before
+you shoot!
+
+While small game may be taken by tactics of moderate cunning, larger
+and more wary animals must be hunted by artful measures. Deer, still
+abundant in our land, and properly safeguarded by game laws, test the
+woodsman's skill to the utmost. To learn the art of finding deer, or
+successful approach and ultimate capture, one must study life in the
+open. Let him read the work of Van Dyke on still-hunting [1]
+[Footnote 1: _The Still-hunter_, by Van Dyke. The Macmillan Co.]
+to gain some idea of the many problems entailed.
+
+In our country we have the Columbia black tail deer. Of course, only
+bucks should be shot; as an old forest ranger said to me, "Does ain't
+deer." And no one but a starving man would shoot a fawn. Here bucks are
+hunted only in the fall, just as they shed their velvet and before the
+rutting season. At this time they keep pretty quiet in the brush or
+seek the higher lookout points on mountain ridges. They browse mostly
+at night and are to be met wandering to water or back to their beds.
+The older ones lie very quietly and seldom move far from their cover.
+Sometimes in the heat of the day they stir about or go to drink. The
+younger bucks are more audacious and seem to feel that their wisdom and
+strength can carry them anywhere. For this reason a two-year-old or
+forked horn is much more frequently brought down.
+
+It is interesting to note that even in this day of civilization and the
+extinction of wild life, deer are to be found within a radius of twenty
+miles from our largest cities in California. We, however, invariably
+journey by rail or motor car from fifty to three hundred miles to do
+most of our hunting. We seek those regions that are most primeval. Here
+game is largely in an undisturbed condition. From some station or
+outpost we pack with horses into the foothills or higher levels of the
+Coast Range or Sierra Nevada Mountains. Having made camp in a sheltered
+spot, we hunt on foot over the adjacent country.
+
+Just at dawn and at sunset are the favorite times for finding deer.
+
+The hunters rise from their sleeping bags, make a hasty meal of coffee
+and cakes, and long before the light of dawn sweeps the eastern sky,
+they must be on the trail. Silently and alert they enter the land of
+suspected deer. Taking advantage of every bit of cover, traveling into
+the wind where possible, looking at every shadow, every spot of moving
+color, they advance. Where trails exist they follow these, or if the
+ground be carpeted with soft pine needles, they flit between the deeper
+shades of the forest, watchful, and hearing every woodland sound.
+
+Often the crashing bound of a deer through the brush proves that
+cautious though the archer may be, more cautious is the deer. Or having
+seen him first, the archer crouches, advances to a favorable spot,
+gauges the distance, clears his eye, and nerves himself for a supreme
+effort. He draws his sturdy bow till the sharpened barb pricks his
+finger and bids him loose--a hit, a leap, a clattering flight. Watching
+and immovable, the archer listens with straining ears. He must not
+stir, he must not follow; later he can trail the quarry. Give the
+wounded deer time to lie down and die, then find him.
+
+It is a surprising experience to see animals stand and let arrows fall
+about them without fear. An archer has special privileges because he
+uses nature's tools.
+
+The whizzing missile is no more than a passing bird to the beast. What
+hurt can that bring? The quiet man is only an interesting object on the
+landscape, there is no noise to cause alarm. Most animals are ruled by
+curiosity till fright takes control. But some are less curious than
+others, notably the turkey. There is a story among sportsmen that
+describes this in the Indian's speech. "Deer see Injun. Deer say, 'I
+see Injun; no, him stump; no, him Injun; no, maybe stump.' Injun shoot.
+Turkey see Injun; he say, 'I see Injun.' He go!"
+
+The use of dogs in deer hunting should be restricted to trailing
+wounded animals. Here a little mongrel, if properly trained, serves
+better than a blooded breed. No dog should be permitted to run deer,
+especially if wounded. It is only the dog's nose we need, not his legs.
+An ideal canine for an archer would be one having the olfactory organs
+of a hound and the reasoning capacity of a college professor. With him
+one could trail animals, yet not flush them; perceive the imminence of
+game, yet not startle it; run coyotes, wolves, cougars, and bear, yet
+never confuse their scent nor abandon the quest of one for that of
+another. But as it is, no dog seems capable of doing all things, so we
+need specialists. A good bear and lion dog should never taste deer meat
+nor follow his tracks.
+
+
+[Illustration: A REST AT NOON]
+
+
+[Illustration: A LYNX THAT MET AN ARCHER]
+
+
+[Illustration: THE CHIEF LOOKING OVER GOOD DEER COUNTRY]
+
+
+A good coon dog should stick to coons and let rabbits alone. And the
+sort of dog an archer needs for deer is one that can point them, yet
+will not follow one unless it is wounded.
+
+Every good dog will come to the ringing note of the horn.
+
+And after all, there lies the soul of the sport. The fragrance of the
+earth, the deep purple valleys, the wooded mountain slopes, the clean
+sweet wind, the mysterious murmur of the tree tops, all call the hunter
+forth. When he hears the horn and the baying hound his heart leaps
+within him, he grasps his good yew bow, girds his quiver on his hip,
+and enters a world of romance and adventure.
+
+
+
+
+X
+
+
+THE RACCOON, WILDCAT, FOX, COON, CAT, AND WOLF
+
+
+Of all the canny beasts, Brother Coon is the wisest, and were it not
+for his imprudence and self-assurance, he would be less frequently
+captured than the coyote, who is also a very clever gentleman. As it
+is, a raccoon hunt is a nocturnal escapade that may be enjoyed by any
+lively boy or man who happens to own a coon dog.
+
+Now a coon dog is any sort of a dog that has a sporting instinct and a
+large propensity for combat. We have, of course, that product of
+culture and breeding, the coon hound, an offshoot from the English fox
+hound. This dog is a marvel in his own sphere.
+
+Although we have not devoted a great deal of time to coon hunting, one
+or another of our group has counted the scalps of quite a number of
+_Procyon lotor_. Having been accepted as a companion of one or two or
+more ambitious and enthusiastic dogs, we start out at dusk to hunt the
+creek bottoms for coons. Provided with bows, blunt arrows, and a
+lantern, we unleash the dogs, and the fun begins.
+
+One must be prepared to scramble through blackberry vines, nettles,
+tangled swamps, and to climb trees. The dogs busy themselves sniffing
+and working through the underbrush, crossing the creek back and forth,
+investigating old hollow trees, displaying signs of exaggerated
+interest and industry.
+
+Suddenly there is a change in their vocal expression. Heretofore the
+short, snappy bark has spoken only of anticipation and eagerness; now
+there comes the instinctive yelp of the questing beast, the hound on
+the scent. It bursts from them like a wail from the distant past. As if
+shot, they are off in a bunch. A clatter of sounds, scratching,
+rustling, and scrambling, we hear them tearing through the brush. We
+follow, but are soon outdistanced. Down the creek bed we go, splash
+through mud, clamber over logs, stop, listen, and hear them baying,
+afar off. Their voices rise in a chorus, some are high-pitched,
+incessant yelps, some are deep-voiced, bell-like tones. We know they
+have him treed and, breathless, we push forward, arriving in the order
+of our physical vigor, those with the best legs and lungs coming first.
+
+High up in a tree, out on a limb, we see a shadowy form and two glowing
+orbs--that is the coon. The dogs are insistent; since they cannot
+climb, although they try, man must rout the victim out. Somebody turns
+a flashlight on the varmint. Frank Ferguson is the champion coon
+hunter; so he draws a blunt arrow from his quiver, takes quick aim and
+shoots. A dull thud tells that he has hit, but the coon does not fall.
+Another arrow whistles past, registering a miss; then a sharp click as
+the blunt point of the third arrow strikes the creature's head, a
+stifled snarl, a falling body, a rush of dogs on the ground, and all is
+over. The hounds are delighted, and we count one chicken thief the
+less.
+
+Sometimes the coon becomes the aggressor. He boldly enters our camp at
+night and purloins a savory ham or rifles the larder and eats a pound
+of butter. He fully deserves what is coming to him. I loose Teddy and
+Dixie, my two faithful hounds. The morning mist is rising from the
+stream, the tree trunks are barely visible in the early dawn, the
+grasses drip with dew.
+
+The eager dogs take up the trail and start on a run up the stream bank.
+They cross on a great fallen tree and mount the wooded hill on the
+other side where I lose them in the jungle. I run on by instinct,
+listening for their directing bark. Once in a while I catch it faintly
+in the distance. They must be mounting rapidly and too busy to bark.
+Again it is audible far off to my left and I force my tired legs to
+renewed energy, climbing higher and higher.
+
+Up I mount through the forest, alert for the telltale yelp. There it
+is, a whine and faint, stifled guttural sounds, but so indistinct and
+so obscured by the prattle of the stream and the murmuring tree tops
+that I fail to locate it. So I flounder on through vines and
+underbrush, wondering where my dogs have gone. I blow the horn and
+Dixie answers with a pathetic howl, away off to the right. I run and
+blow the horn again; again that puppy whine. Teddy doesn't answer and I
+wonder how Dixie could have been lost, though after all, he is only a
+recent graduate from the kennel and unseasoned in this world of canine
+misery and wisdom. Unexpectedly, I come upon him, looking very
+disconsolate and somewhat mauled. There is no doubt about it, he has
+rushed in where angels fear to tread. He has received a recent lesson
+in coon hunting. So I console him with a little petting and ask him
+where is Teddy. Just then I hear a subterranean gurgle and scuffle and
+rushing off to a nearby clump of trees, I find that away down under the
+ground in a hollow stump, there is a death struggle going on--Teddy and
+the coon are having it out. From the sounds I know that Ted has him by
+the throat and is waiting for the end. But he seems very weak himself.
+As I shout down the hole to encourage him, the coon, with one final
+effort, wrests himself free from the dog and comes scuttling out of the
+hole. With undignified haste I back away from the outlet and fumble a
+blunt arrow on the string, and I am just in time, for here comes one of
+the maddest and one of the sickest coons I ever saw. With a hasty shot
+back of the ear, I bowl him over and put him out of his misery. Turning
+him over with my foot to make sure he is finished, I note how desperate
+the fight must have been. His neck and brisket are a mass of mangled
+flesh and skin. Then reaching deep down in the hole I grab poor
+exhausted Teddy by the scruff of his neck, lift him out, and let him
+regain his breath in the fresh air. He certainly is a weary champion.
+The coon has bitten him viciously between the legs and along the
+abdomen. After a while we all go down to the stream and there bathe the
+wounded heroes.
+
+With the rascally old coon over my shoulder, we three wander back to
+camp in time for congratulations and wonderment of the children and the
+consolation of hot victuals.
+
+That is a typical coon hunt with us. Some are less damaging to the
+dogs, but usually this little cousin of the bears is able to give a
+good account of himself in the contest.
+
+Ferguson and his pack of fox terriers have had more experience with the
+redoubtable raccoon than the rest of us; he hunts them for their pelts.
+He is also a trapper for the market and long since has found that the
+blunt arrow shot from a light bow serves very admirably for dispatching
+the captured varmint when once trapped.
+
+The fox is more difficult to meet in the wilds. His business hours are
+also at night, but he extends them not infrequently both into the
+sunrise and twilight zones. One of the most beautiful sights I ever
+witnessed came unexpectedly while hunting deer.
+
+It was evening; dusky shadows merged all objects into a common drab.
+Two silent, graceful foxes rose over the crest of a little eminence of
+ground before me. Outlined distinctly against a red dirt bank across
+the ravine, they stood just for a moment in surprise. I drew my bow and
+instantly loosed an arrow at the foremost. It flew swift as a
+night-hawk and with a rush of wind passed his head. As is usual at
+dusk, I had overestimated the distance. It was but forty yards; I
+thought it fifty.
+
+Half-startled, but not alarmed, the two foxes fixed their gaze upon me
+a second, then gracefully, and with infinite ease, they cleared a
+three-foot bush without a run and disappeared in the gloom.
+
+But in that leap I gained all the thrill that I missed with my arrow.
+Such facile grace I never saw. Without an effort they rose, hovered an
+instant in midair, straightened their wonderful bushy tails as an
+aeroplane readjusts its flight, and soared level across the obstacle.
+One final downward curve of that beautiful counterbalance landed them
+smoothly on the distant side of the bush where, with uninterrupted
+speed, they vanished from sight. For the first time I appreciated why a
+fox has such a light, long, fluffy caudal appendage. Marvelous!
+
+
+[Illustration: MR. COON BROUGHT INTO CAMP]
+
+
+[Illustration: A PRETTY PAIR OF WINGS]
+
+
+[Illustration: JUST A LITTLE HUNT BEFORE BREAKFAST]
+
+
+[Illustration: YOUNG AND COMPTON WITH A QUAIL APIECE]
+
+
+Often at night when coming late to camp through the woods, a fox has
+emerged from the outer sphere of darkness and given a querulous little
+bark at me. Wheeling with a bright light on the head, I could have shot
+him, but then he is such a harmless little denizen of the woods that I
+hate to kill him. But after all, is he really harmless? The little
+culprit! He actually does a deal of harm, destroying birds' nests,
+eating the young, catching quail and rabbits--I don't know that we
+should spare him.
+
+With horses and hounds we have chased many foxes over the sage and
+chaparral-covered hills.
+
+The fox terrier and the black and tan are excellent dogs for this sort
+of work. These little hunters are keen for the sport and make their way
+beneath the brush where a larger dog follows with difficulty. With
+strident yelps the pack picks up the hot trail, and off they rush,
+helter skelter, through the sage and chaparral; we circle and cross
+cut, dash down the draw, traverse the open forest meadow and follow the
+furious procession into the trees.
+
+There the hard-pressed little fox makes a final spurt for a large red
+pine, leaps straight for the bare trunk, mounts like a squirrel and
+gains a rotten limb, panting with effort. As we approach he climbs
+still higher and lodges himself securely in the crotch of the tree,
+gazing furtively down at the dogs.
+
+Who ever thought that a fox could climb such a tree! It was twenty feet
+to the first foothold on a decayed branch; yet there he was, and we saw
+him do it.
+
+Sometimes when the fleeing fox has mounted a smaller tree, we have
+shaken him from his perch and let the dogs deal with him as they think
+best--for a dog must not be too often cheated of his conquest or he
+loses heart. Sometimes we have mounted the tree and slipped a noose
+over the fox's neck, brought him close, tied his wicked little jaws
+tightly together with a thong, packed him off on the horse to show him
+to the children in camp, and later given him his liberty. Or, as in the
+case of our little villain up the pine tree, we have drawn a careful
+arrow and settled his life problems with a broad-head.
+
+In winter time the trap and the blunt arrow add another fur collar to
+the coat of the feminine sybarite.
+
+The woods and plains are full of hunters. The hawk is on the wing; the
+murderous mink and weasel never cease their crimes; the bird seeks the
+slothful worm and jumping insect; the fox, cat, and wolf forever quest
+for food. And so we, hunting in the early morning light, once saw a
+flock of quail flushed long before our presence should have given them
+cause for flight. Compton and Young, arrows nocked and muscles taut,
+crept cautiously to the thicket of wild roses out of which flew the
+quail. There, stooping low, they saw the spotted legs of a lynx softly
+stalking the birds. Aiming above the legs where surely there must be a
+body, Young sped an arrow. There was a thud, a snarl, and an animal
+tore through the crackling bushes. Out from the other side bounded the
+cat, and there, not twenty yards off, he met Compton. Like a flash
+another arrow flew at him, flew through him, and down he tumbled, a
+flurry of scratching claws, torn up grasses and dust. Young's arrow,
+having been a blunt barbed head, still lodged in his chest, and as the
+lynx succumbed to death I took his picture.
+
+Lazy, sleepy cat, both lynx and wildcats, we meet not infrequently on
+our travels. Still they are ever up to mischief in spite of their
+indolent casual appearance. Often have we seen them slink out from a
+bunch of cover, cross the open hillside, and there, if within range,
+receive an archer's salute. Many times we miss them, sometimes we hit;
+but that's not the point, we are not so anxious to get them as to send
+greetings.
+
+Then, too, since Ishi taught us to do it, we have called these wary
+creatures from the thicket and sometimes got a shot.
+
+With the dogs, the story is soon told and the role of the bowman is
+without triumph; so for this reason, we prefer the accidental meetings
+and impromptu adventures to the more certain contact. Still when at
+night we hear the tingling call of the lynx up in the woods, we yearn
+for a willing dog and a taut bowstring.
+
+With the distant barking wail of the prairie wolf or coyote, one feels
+differently. I presume that man has become so accustomed to the dog
+that he has rather a kindly feeling toward this little brother of the
+plains, called by the Aztecs coyote, or "wild one." We know his evil
+propensities and his economic menace, but still we love him, or at
+least, look upon him much as the Indians do, as a sort of comedian
+among animals.
+
+Ishi used to tell me of his laughable experiences with coyotes. When
+coming home at night with a haunch of venison on his shoulder, a band
+of these gamins of the wilds would follow him teasing at his heels.
+Ishi would turn upon them with feigned fury and chase them back into
+the shadows or wield his bow as a short lance and jab them vigorously
+in the ribs--when he could.
+
+With him the coyote was the reincarnation of a mythical character, half
+buffoon, half magician. He was cunning, crafty, humorous, and evil, all
+in one, and no doings of the animal folk ever progressed very far
+without the entrance of the "coyote doctor" on the scene. He was the
+doer of tricks and caster of spells, but still he himself met with
+misadventure--witness how he lost his claws. Of course, he had long
+claws like the bear in the beginning, and fine silky fur. But one
+night, coming weary from hunting and cold, he crept into a hollow oak
+gall to sleep. The wind fanned the embers of the camp-fire and the dry
+grass burst into a blaze. It swept up to the sleeping coyote, where
+only his feet protruded from his hollow spherical den. Here they hung
+out for lack of room. So, of course, his claws were burned off before
+the pain wakened him. He leaped out of his nest, dashed through the
+blaze, and plunged into the creek, not in time, however, to keep his
+beautiful long hair from being singed. Even to this day he has that
+half-scorched, moth-eaten pelt, and his claws are only those of a
+coyote.
+
+When met in the open, the prairie wolf seems so weary and listless. If
+at a distance, he protests at your entrance upon his domain with a
+forlorn wail, or insolently stares at you from a ridge. He sits and
+looks or moves about dyspeptically waiting for you to go.
+
+Once I remember that we saw one sitting on his haunches a hundred and
+eighty yards away. Compton loosed an arrow at him, one of those
+whining, complaining shafts that drone through the air. The coyote
+heard it coming; he pricked up his ears, pointed his nose skyward, rose
+and limped lively to the left, turned, peered into the sky, and ran a
+short distance to the right, then loped off just in time to be missed
+by the descending arrow, which landed exactly where he sat originally.
+It was indeed a most ludicrous performance, incidentally a splendid
+shot.
+
+Just as with a rifle, the coyote simply is not there when your missile
+strikes. He doesn't seem to bestir himself greatly, but just seems to
+drag himself out of harm's way at the last moment. How often have we
+let fly at him, sometimes at a group of them, but seldom has he been
+hit. A beginner's luck seems to fool him, however. One of our neophytes
+with the bow, having had his tackle less than a month, was out riding
+in his new automobile in company with a group of friends. The bow at
+that time was his vade-mecum; he never left it home. He chanced to see
+a stray coyote near the side of the highway when, after passing it a
+hundred yards or so, he stopped his machine, grabbed his trusty weapon,
+which he had hardly learned to shoot, strung it, nocked an arrow, and
+ran back to take a shot at the animal in question. His eagerness and
+obvious incapacity so amused the gay company in the machine, that they
+cheered him on with laughter and ridicule.
+
+Undaunted, our bowman hastened back, saw the crafty beast retreating in
+a slinking gallop, drew his faithful bow, and shot at sixty yards.
+Unerringly the fatal shaft flew, struck the coyote back of the ear and
+laid him low without a quiver.
+
+Mad with unexpected triumph, our archer dragged his slain victim back
+to the car to meet the jeering company, and confounded them with his
+success. Loud were the shouts of joy; a war dance ensued to celebrate
+the great event. When done the merry party cranked up the machine and
+sped on its fragrant way, a happier and a more enlightened bevy of
+children.
+
+Thus is shown the danger of utter innocence.
+
+These chance meetings seem rather unlucky for coyotes. Frank Ferguson,
+when trapping in the foothills of the Sierras, repeatedly had his traps
+robbed by an impudent member of the wolf family. One day while making
+his regular rounds and approaching a set, he saw in the distance a
+coyote run off with the catch of his trap. Seeing that the wolf turned
+up a branch creek, Ferguson cut across the intervening neck of the
+woods to intercept him if possible. He reached the stream bottom at the
+moment the coyote came trotting past. Having a blunt arrow on the
+bowstring, he shot across the twenty-five yards of bank, and quite
+unexpectedly cracked the animal on the foreleg, breaking the bone. A
+jet of blood spurted out with astonishing force, and the brute
+staggered for a space of time. This gave Ferguson a moment to nock a
+second shaft, a broad-head, and with that accuracy known to come in
+excitement, he drove it completely through the animal's body, killing
+it instantly. When next we met after this episode, he showed me the
+bloody arrows and wolf skin as mute evidence of his skill.
+
+Ferguson was won over to archery when, as packer upon our first trip
+together, he asked Compton to show him what could be done with the bow
+in the way of accurate shooting. Compton is particularly good at long
+ranges, so he pointed out a bush about one hundred and seventy-five
+yards distant. It was about the size of a dog. Compton took unusual
+care with his shots, and dropped three successive arrows in that bush.
+When "Ferg" saw this he took the bow seriously.
+
+The timber wolf is seldom met in our clime, and so for this reason he
+has been spared the fate common to all fearsome beasts that cross the
+trail of an archer. But with that fateful hope which has foreshadowed
+and seemingly insured our subsequent achievement, I fervently wish that
+some day we may meet, wolf and bowman.
+
+In the absence of this the more austere and wicked member of the
+family, we shall continue from time to time to speed a questing arrow
+in the general direction of the furtive coyote.
+
+
+
+
+XI
+
+
+DEER HUNTING
+
+
+Deer are the most beautiful animals of the woods. Their grace, poise,
+agility, and alertness make them a lovely and inspiring sight. To see
+them feed undisturbed is wonderful; such mincing steps, such dainty
+nibbling is a lesson in culture. With wide, lustrous eyes, mobile ears
+ever listening, with moist, sensitive nostrils testing every vagrant
+odor in the air, they are the embodiment of hypersensitive
+self-preservation. And yet deer are not essentially timid animals. They
+will venture far through curiosity, and I have seen them from the
+hilltop, being run by dogs, play and trifle with their pursuers. The
+dog, hampered by brush and going only by scent, follows implicitly the
+trail. The deer runs, leaps high barriers, doubles on his tracks, stops
+to browse at a tempting bush, even waits for the dog to catch up with
+him, and leads him on in a merry chase. I feel sure that unless badly
+cornered or confused by a number of dogs or wolves, the deer does not
+often develop great fear, nor is he hard put to it in these episodes.
+Quite likely there is an element of sport in it with him.
+
+Why men should kill deer is a moot question, but it is a habit of the
+brute. For so many hundreds of years have we been at it, that we can
+hardly be expected to reform immediately. Undoubtedly, it is a sign of
+undeveloped ethnic consciousness. We are depraved animals. I must admit
+that there are quite a number of things men do that mark them as far
+below the angels, but in a way I am glad of it. The thrill and glow of
+nature is strong within us. The great primitive outer world is still
+unconquered, and there are impulses within the breast of man not yet
+measured, curbed and devitalized, which are the essential motives of
+life. Therefore, without wantonness, and without cruelty, we shall hunt
+as long as the arm has strength, the eye glistens, and the heart
+throbs.
+
+Lead on!
+
+To go deer hunting, the archer should seek a country unspoiled by
+civilization and gunpowder. It should approach as nearly as possible
+the pristine wilderness of our forefathers. The game should be
+unharried by the omnipresent and dangerous nimrod. In fact, as a matter
+of safety, an archer particularly should avoid those districts overrun
+by the gunman. The very methods employed by the bowman make him a ready
+target for the unerring, accidental bullet.
+
+Never go in company with those using firearms; never carry firearms.
+The first spoils your hunting, and the second is unnecessary and only
+gives your critic a chance to say that you used a gun to kill your
+animal, then stuck it full of arrows to take its picture.
+
+On our deer hunts we first decide upon the location, usually in some
+mountain ranch owned by a man who is willing and anxious to have us
+hunt on his grounds. The sporting proposition of shooting deer with a
+bow strikes the fancy of most men in the country. If we are unfamiliar
+with the district, the rancher can give us valuable information
+concerning the location of bucks, and this saves time. Usually he is
+our guide and packer, supplying the horses and equipment for a
+compensation, so we are welcome. Some of the intimate relations
+established on these expeditions are among the pleasantest features of
+our vacation.
+
+Having reached the hunting grounds, we make camp. Tents are pitched,
+stores unpacked and arranged, beds made and all put in order for a stay
+of days or weeks.
+
+Each archer has with him two or more bows, and anywhere from two to six
+dozen arrows. About half of these are good broad-heads and the rest are
+blunts or odd scraps to be shot away at birds on the wing, at marks, or
+some are shot in pure exhilaration across deep canyons.
+
+As a rule, there are two or three of us in the party, and we hunt
+together.
+
+Having decided what seems the best buck ground, we rise before daylight
+and, having eaten, strike out to reach the proposed spot before
+sunrise. There we spread out, approximately a bowshot apart, that is to
+say, two hundred yards. In parallel courses we traverse the country;
+one just below the ridges where one nearly always finds a game trail;
+one part way down, working through the wooded draws; and the third
+going through the timber edge where deer are likely to lurk or bed
+down.
+
+In this way we cross-cut a good deal of country, and one or the other
+is likely to come upon or rout out a buck. With great caution we
+progress very quietly, searching every bit of cover, peering at every
+fallen log, where deer often lie, standing to scrutinize every
+conspicuous twig in anticipation that it may be horns. Does, of course,
+we see in plenty. So carefully do we approach that often we have come
+up within ten yards of female deer. Once Compton sneaked up on a doe
+nursing her fawn. He crept so close that he could have thrown his hat
+on them. While he watched, the mother got restless, seemed to sense
+danger without scenting or seeing it. She moved off slowly, pulling her
+teats out of the eager fawn's mouth, gave a flip to her hind legs and
+hopped over him, then meandered leisurely to the crest of the hill. The
+little fellow, unperturbed, licked his chops, ran his tongue up his
+nose, shook his ears, and seeing mother waiting for him, trotted away
+unaware of the possible danger of man. But we do not shoot does.
+
+So we travel. Sometimes a startled deer bounds down the hillside
+leaving us chagrined and disappointed. Sometimes one tries this and is
+defeated. One evening as we returned to camp, making haste because of
+the rapidly falling night, we startled a deer that plunged down the
+steep slope before us. Instantly Compton drew to the head and shot. His
+arrow led the bounding animal by ten yards. Just as the deer reached
+cover at a distance of seventy-five yards, the arrow struck. It entered
+his flank, ranged forward and emerged at the point of the opposite
+shoulder. The deer turned and dashed into the bush. As it did so the
+protruding arrow shaft snapped; we descended and picked up the broken
+piece. Following the crashing descent of the buck down the canyon, we
+found him some two hundred yards below, crumpled up and dead against a
+madrone tree. It was a heart shot, one of the finest I ever hope to
+see. Compton is a master at the judgment of distance and the speed of
+running game.
+
+Having worked out a piece of country by the method of sub-division, we
+meet at a pre-arranged rendezvous and plan another sortie.
+
+If the sun has not risen above the peaks, we continue this method of
+combing the land until we know the time for bucks has passed. For this
+reason we work the high points first, and the lower points last, for in
+this way we take advantage of the slowly advancing illumination.
+
+Sometimes, using glasses, we pick out a buck at a considerable
+distance, either in his solitary retreat, or with a band of deer; and
+we go after him. Here we figure out where he is traveling and make a
+detour to intercept him. This is often heartbreaking work, up hill and
+down dale, but all part of the game.
+
+Young and Compton brought low a fine buck by this means on one of our
+recent hunts. Seeing a three-pointer a mile distant, we all advanced at
+a rapid pace. We reached suitable vantage ground just as the buck
+became aware of our presence. At eighty yards Young shot an arrow and
+pierced him through the chest. The deer leaped a ravine and took refuge
+in a clump of bay trees. We surrounded this cover and waited for his
+exit. Since he did not come out after due waiting, Compton cautiously
+invaded the wooded area, saw the wounded deer deep in thought; he
+finished him with a broad-head through the neck.
+
+
+[Illustration: WOODCHUCKS GALORE!]
+
+
+[Illustration: PORCUPINE QUILLS TO DECORATE A QUIVER]
+
+
+[Illustration: A FATAL ARROW AT 65 YARDS]
+
+
+[Illustration: THE CHIEF AND ART GET A BUCK AT 85 YARDS]
+
+Not having had any large experience myself in hunting deer with
+firearms, the use of the bow presented no great contrast. Mr. Young has
+often said, however, that it gave him more pleasure to shoot at a deer
+and miss it with an arrow, than to kill all the deer he ever had with a
+gun. For my part, I did not want to kill anything with a gun. It did
+not seem fair; so until I took up archery, I did not care to hunt.
+
+Therefore, the analysis of my feelings interested me considerably as we
+began to have experiences with the bow.
+
+The first deer I shot at was so far off that there was no chance to hit
+it, but I let drive just to get the sensation. My arrow sailed
+harmlessly over its back. The next I shot at was within good range, but
+my arrow only grazed its rump. And that deer did something that I never
+saw before. It sagged in the middle until its belly nearly touched the
+ground, then it gathered its seemingly weakened legs beneath it, and
+galloped off in a series of bucks. We laughed immoderately over its
+antics; in fact, some of our adventures have been most ludicrous at
+times.
+
+Once, when two of us shot at an old stag together as it raced far off
+down the trail, the two arrows dropped twenty yards ahead of it.
+Instantly the stag came to an abrupt stop, smelled first one arrow at
+one side of the trail, and the other on the opposite side, deliberated
+a moment, bolted sidewise and disappeared. What he got in his olfactory
+investigation must have been confusing. He smelled man; he smelled
+turkey feathers; and he smelled paint. What sort of animals do you
+think he imagined the arrows to be?
+
+This reminds me that Ishi always said that a white man smelled like a
+horse, and in hunting made a noise like one, but apparently he doesn't
+always have horse sense.
+
+I saw this exemplified upon one occasion. When camped in a beautiful
+little spot we were disturbed by the arrival of a party of some four
+men, five horses, and three dogs--all heavily accoutred for the chase.
+With our quiet Indian methods, we caused little excitement in the land,
+but they burst in upon us with a fury that warned all game for miles
+around.
+
+The day after their arrival, alone on a trail, I heard one of this band
+approaching; half a mile above me his noise preceded him. Down he came
+over brush and stones. I stepped quietly beside a bush and waited as I
+would for an oncoming elephant. With gun at right shoulder arms,
+knapsack and canteen rattling, spiked shoes crunching, he marched past
+me, eyes straight ahead; walking within ten yards and never saw me.
+Twenty deer must have seen him where he saw one. That night this same
+man came straggling wearily into our midst and asked the way to his
+camp. He explained that he had put a piece of paper on a tree to guide
+him, but that he could not find the tree. We asked him what luck. He
+said that there were only does in the country. Perhaps he was right,
+because that is all they shot. We found two down in the gullies after
+they had gone. For a week they hunted all over the place with horses,
+guns, and dogs, and got no legitimate game. During this same time,
+beneath their very noses, we got two fine bucks. So much for the men of
+iron.
+
+The first buck I ever landed with the bow thrilled me to such an extent
+that every detail is memorable. After a long, hard morning hunt, I was
+returning to camp alone. It was nearly noon; the sun beat down on the
+pungent dust of the trail, and all nature seemed sleepy. The air, heavy
+with the fragrance of the pines, hardly stirred.
+
+I was walking wearily along thinking of food, when suddenly my outer
+visual fields picked up the image of a deer. I stopped. There, eighty
+yards away, stood a three-year-old buck, grazing under an oak. His back
+was toward me. I crouched and sneaked nearer. My arrow was nocked on
+the string. The distance I measured carefully with my eye; it was now
+sixty-five yards. Just then the deer raised its head. I let fly an
+arrow at its neck. It flew between its horns. The deer gave a started
+toss to its head, listened a second, then dipped its crest again to
+feed. I nocked another shaft. As it raised its head again I shot. This
+arrow flew wide of the neck, but at the right elevation. The buck now
+was more startled and jumped so that it stood profile to me, looking
+and listening. I dropped upon one knee. A little rising ground and
+intervening brush partially concealed me. As I drew a third arrow from
+my quiver its barb caught in the rawhide, and I swore a soft vicious
+oath to steady my nerves. Then drawing my bow carefully, lowering my
+aim and holding like grim death, I shot a beautifully released arrow.
+It sped over the tops of the dried grass seeming to skim the ground
+like a bird, and struck the deer full and hard in the chest. It was a
+welcome thud. The beast leaped, bounded off some thirty yards,
+staggered, drew back its head and wilted in the hind legs. I had stayed
+immovable as wood. Seeing him failing, I ran swiftly forward, and
+almost on the run at forty yards I drove a second arrow through his
+heart. The deer died instantly.
+
+Conflicting emotions of compassion and exultation surged through me,
+and I felt weak, but I ran to my quarry, lifted his head on my knee and
+claimed him in the name of Robin Hood.
+
+Looking him over, it was apparent that my second shaft had hit him in
+the base of the heart, emerged through the breast and only stopped in
+its flight by striking the foreleg. The first arrow had gone completely
+through the back part of the chest, severed the aorta, and flown past
+him. There it lay, sticking deep into the ground twenty yards beyond
+the spot where he stood when shot.
+
+After the body had been cleaned and cooled in the shade of an oak, we
+packed it home in the twilight, an easy burden for a light heart. This
+is the fulfilment of the hunter's quest. It was the sweetest venison we
+ever tasted.
+
+We have had little experience in trailing deer on the snow and none in
+the use of dogs to run them. Doubtless, the latter method under some
+conditions is admirable, particularly in very brushy countries.
+
+But we have preferred the still hunt. Lying in wait at licks we have
+done so to study animal life and in conjunction with the Indian to
+learn his methods, but neither the lick nor the ambush appealed to us
+as sport. In fact, we have hunted deer more for meat than for trophies,
+and quite a number of our kills have been in a way incidental to
+hunting mountain lions or other predatory animals.
+
+Once, when on a lion trail, the dogs ran down a steep trail ahead of
+me, and there in the creek bottom they started a fine large buck. On
+each side of the path the brush was very high, and up this corridor
+dashed the buck. There was no room for him to pass, and he came upon me
+with a rush. When less than twenty yards away, I hastily drew my bow
+and drove an arrow deep into his breast. With a lateral bound he
+cleared the brushy hedge and was lost to view. The dogs had been
+trained not to follow deer; but since they saw me shoot it, they ran in
+hot pursuit. I sounded my horn and brought them back, and scolded them.
+But fearing to lose the deer, I decided to go down to the ranch house,
+a couple of miles away, and borrow Jasper and his dog, Splinters. Now
+Splinters was some sort of a mongrel fise, an insignificant-looking
+little beast that had come originally from the city and presumably was
+hopelessly civilized. Jasper, however, had recognized in him certain
+latent talents and had trained him to follow wounded deer. He paid no
+attention to any scent except that of deer blood. In an accidental
+encounter with the hind foot of a horse, Splinters had lost the sight
+of one eye and the use of one ear; but in spite of the lopsided
+progression occasioned by this disability, he was infallible with
+wounded bucks.
+
+So Jasper came, and Splinters trotted along at his heels. At the spot
+where the deer leaped off the trail, we let the dog smell a drop of
+blood. After a deliberate, unexcited investigation, he began to wander
+through the brush. Occasionally he stopped to stand on his hind legs
+and nose the chaparral above him, then wandered on. Just about this
+time I stepped on a rattlesnake, and, after a hasty change of location,
+directed my efforts toward dispatching the snake. By the time I had
+finished this worthy deed, Jasper and Splinters were lost to view; so I
+sat down and waited. After a quarter of an hour I heard a distant
+whistle.
+
+Following Jasper's signal, I descended to the creek below me, went a
+short distance up a side branch, and there were all three--Jasper,
+Splinters, and the deer. The latter had made almost a complete circle,
+half a mile in extent, and dropped in the creek, not a hundred yards
+from his starting point.
+
+My arrow had caused a most destructive wound in the lungs and great
+vessels of the chest, and it was remarkable that the animal could have
+gone so far. We were of the opinion that if my own dogs had not started
+to run him, the deer would have gone but a short distance and lain down
+where in a few minutes we could have found him dead.
+
+While, after all, the object of deer hunting is to get your deer, it
+does seem that some of our keenest delight has been when we have missed
+it. So far, we have never shot one of those massive old bucks with
+innumerable points to his antlers; they have all been adolescent or
+prospective patriarchs. But several times we have almost landed the big
+fellow.
+
+Out of the quiet purple shadow of the forest one evening there stepped
+the most stately buck I ever saw. His noble crest and carriage were
+superb. On a grassy hillside, some hundred and fifty yards away, he
+stood broadside on. With a rifle the merest tyro might have bowled him
+over. In fact, he looked just like the royal stag in the picture.
+
+Two of us were together--a little underbrush shielded us. We drew our
+bows, loosed the arrows and off they flew. The flight of an arrow is a
+beautiful thing; it is grace, harmony, and perfect geometry all in one.
+They flew, and fell short. The deer only looked at them. We nocked
+again and shot. This time we dropped them just beneath his belly. He
+jumped forward a few paces and stopped to look at us. Slowly we reached
+for a third arrow, slowly nocked and drew it, and away it went,
+whispering in the air. One grazed his withers, the other pierced him
+through the loose skin of the brisket and flew past.
+
+With an upward leap he soared away in the woods and we sent our
+blessing with him. His wound would heal readily, a mere scratch. We
+picked up our arrows and returned to camp to have bacon for supper,
+perfectly happy.
+
+An arrow wound may be trivial, as was this one, or it may be
+surprisingly deadly, as brought out by an experience of Arthur Young.
+Once when stalking deer, the animal became alarmed and started to run
+away behind a screen of scrub oak. Young, perceiving that he was about
+to lose his quarry, shot at the indistinct moving body. Thinking that
+he had missed his shot, he searched for his arrow and found that it had
+plowed up the ground and buried its head deep in the earth. When he
+picked it up, he noted that it was strangely damp, but since he could
+not explain it, he dismissed the matter from his mind.
+
+Next day, hunting over the same ground, he and Compton found the deer
+less than a hundred and fifty yards from this spot. It had run, fallen,
+bled, risen and fallen down hill, where it died of hemorrhage. Their
+inspection showed that the arrow had struck back of the shoulder, gone
+through the lungs and emerged beneath the jaw. With all this it had
+flown yards beyond, struck deeply in the earth, and was only a trifle
+damp.
+
+Upon another occasion, while hunting cougars with a hound, I came
+abruptly upon a doe and a buck in a deep ravine. It was open season and
+we needed camp meat. Gauging my distance carefully, I shot at the buck,
+striking him in the flank. For the first time in my life, I heard an
+adult deer bleat. He gave an involuntary exclamation, whirled, but
+since he knew not the location or the nature of his danger, he did not
+run.
+
+My hound was working higher up in the canyon, but he heard the bleat,
+when like a wild beast he came charging through the undergrowth and
+hurled himself with terrific force upon the startled deer, bearing him
+to the ground. There was a fierce struggle for a brief moment in which
+the buck wrenched himself free from the dog's hold upon his throat and
+with an effort lunged down the slope and eluded us. Because of the many
+deer trails and because the hound was unused to following deer, night
+fell before we could locate him.
+
+Next day we found the dead buck, but the lions had left little meat on
+his bones--in fact, it seemed that a veritable den of these animals had
+feasted on him.
+
+The striking picture in my mind today is the fierceness and the savage
+onslaught of my dog. Never did I suspect that the amiable, gentle pet
+of our fireside could turn into such an overpowering, indomitable
+killer. His assault was absolutely bloodthirsty. I've often thought how
+grateful I should be that such an animal was my friend and companion in
+the hunt and not my pursuer. How quickly the dog adjusts himself to the
+bow! At first he is afraid of the long stick. But he soon gets the idea
+and not waiting for the detonation of the gun, he accepts the hum of
+the bowstring and the whirr of the arrow as signals for action. Some
+dogs have even shown a tendency to retrieve our arrows for us, and
+nothing suits them better than that we go on foot, and by their sides
+can run with them and with our silent shafts can lay low what they
+bring to bay. In fact, it is a perfect balance of power--the hound with
+his wondrous nose, lean flanks and tireless legs; the man with his
+human reason, the horn, and his bow and arrow.
+
+We who have hunted thus, trod the forest trails, climbed the lofty
+peaks, breathed the magic air, and viewed the endless roll of mountain
+ridges, blue in the distance, have been blessed by the gods.
+
+In all, we have shot about thirty deer with the bow. The majority of
+these fell before the shafts of Will Compton, while Young and I have
+contributed in a smaller measure to the count. Despite the vague
+regrets we always feel at slaying so beautiful an animal, there is an
+exultation about bringing into camp a haunch of venison, or hanging the
+deer on the limb of a sheltering tree, there to cool near the icy
+spring. By the glow of the campfire we broil savory loin steaks, and
+when done eating, we sit in the gloaming and watch the stars come out.
+Great Orion shines in all his glory, and the Hunters' Moon rises golden
+and full through the skies.
+
+Drowsy with happiness, we nestle down in our sleeping bags, resting on
+a bed of fragrant boughs, and dream of the eternal chase.
+
+
+
+
+XII
+
+
+BEAR HUNTING
+
+
+Killing bears with the bow and arrow is a very old pastime, in fact, it
+ranks next in antiquity to killing them with a club. However, it has
+faded so far into the dim realms of the past that it seems almost
+mythical.
+
+The bear has stood for all that is dangerous and horrible for ages. No
+doubt, our ancestral experiences with the cave bears of Europe stamped
+the dread of these mighty beasts indelibly in our hearts. The American
+Indians in times gone past killed them with their primitive weapons,
+but even they have not done it lately, so it can be considered a lost
+art.
+
+The Yana's method of hunting bears has been described. Here they made
+an effort to shoot the beast in the open mouth. Ishi said that the
+blood thus choked and killed him. But after examining the bear skulls,
+it seems to me that a shot in the mouth is more likely to be fatal
+because the base of the brain is here covered with the thinnest layers
+of bone. Arrows can hardly penetrate the thick frontal bones of the
+skull, but up through the palate there would be no difficulty in
+entering the brain. At any rate, it is here that the Yana directed
+their shots. Apparently, from Ishi's description, it took quite a time
+to wear down and slay the animal.
+
+All Indians seem to have had a wholesome respect for the grizzly, the
+mighty brother of the mountains, and they gave him the right of way.
+
+The black bear is, of course, the same animal whether brown or
+cinnamon, these color variations are simply brunette, blonde and auburn
+complexions, the essential anatomical and habit characteristics are
+identical.
+
+The American black bear at one time ranged all over the United States
+and Canada. He has recently become a rare inhabitant of the eastern and
+more thickly populated districts; yet it is astonishing to hear that
+even in the year of 1920 some four hundred and sixty-five bears were
+taken in the State of Pennsylvania.
+
+In the western mountains he is to be met with quite frequently, but is
+not given to unprovoked attack, and with modern firearms an encounter
+with him is not fraught with great danger. He, or more properly, she
+will charge man with intent to kill upon certain rare occasions--when
+wounded, surprised, or when feeling that her young are in danger. But
+the bear, in company with all the other animals of the wilds, has
+learned to fear man since gunpowder was invented. Prior to this time,
+it felt the game was more equal, and seldom avoided a meeting, even
+courted it.
+
+Bears are a mixture of the curious comedy traits with cunning and
+savage ferocity. In some of their lighter moods and pilfering habits,
+they add to the gayety of life.
+
+While hunting in Wyoming one night, on coming to camp we discovered a
+young black bear robbing our larder. He had a ham bone in his jaws as
+we approached. Hastily nocking a blunt arrow on my bowstring, I let fly
+at sixty yards as he started to make his escape. I did not wish to
+kill, only admonish him. The arrow flew in a swift chiding stroke and
+smote him on his furry side with a dull thud. With a grunt and a bound,
+he dropped the bone and scampered off into the forest while the arrow
+rattled to the ground. His antics of surprise were most ludicrous. We
+sped him on his way with hilarious shouts; he never came again.
+
+Upon a different occasion with another party, where the camp was
+bothered by the midnight foraging of a bear, our guide arranged to play
+a practical joke upon a certain "tenderfoot." Unknown to the victim, he
+tied a chunk of bacon to the corner of his sleeping bag with a piece of
+bale wire. In the middle of the night the camp was awakened by a
+pandemonium as the sleeping bag, man and all disappeared down the slope
+and landed in the creek bed below, where the determined bear, hanging
+on to the bacon, dragged the protesting tenderfoot. Here he abandoned
+his noisy burden and left the scene of excitement. No doubt, this goes
+down in the annals of both families as the most dramatic and stirring
+moment of life.
+
+Bear stories of this sort tend to give one the idea that these beasts
+can be petted and made trustworthy companions. In fact, certain
+sentimental devotees of nature foster the sentiment that wild animals
+need naught but kindness and loving thoughts to become the bosom friend
+of man. Such sophists would find that they had made a fatal mistake if
+they could carry out their theories. The old feud between man and beast
+still exists and will exist until all wild life is exterminated or is
+semi-domesticated in game preserves and refuges.
+
+Even domestic cattle allowed to run wild are extremely dangerous. Their
+fear of man breeds their desperate assault when cornered.
+
+The black bear has killed and will kill men when brought to bay or
+wounded or even when he feels himself cornered.
+
+Although largely vegetarian, bear also capture and devour prey. Young
+deer, marmots, ground squirrels, sheep, and cattle are their diet. In
+certain districts great damage is done to flocks by bears that have
+become killers. In our hunts we have come across dead sheep, slain and
+partially devoured by black bears. All ranchers can tell of the
+depredations of these animals.
+
+In Oregon and the northern part of California, there are many men who
+make it their business to trap or run bears with dogs to secure their
+hides and to sell their meat to the city markets. It is a hardy sport
+and none but the most stalwart and experienced can hope to succeed at
+it. In the late autumn and early winter the bears are fat and in prime
+condition for capture.
+
+Having graduated from ground squirrels, quail and rabbits, and having
+laid low the noble deer, we who shoot the bow became presumptuous and
+wanted to kill bear with our weapons. So, learning of a certain
+admirable hunter up in Humboldt County by the name of Tom Murphy, we
+wrote to him with our proposal. He was taken with the idea of the bow
+and arrow and invited us to join him in some of his winter excursions.
+
+In November, 1918, we arrived in the little village of Blocksburg, on
+the outskirts of which was Murphy's ranch. In normal times, Tom cuts
+wood, and raises cattle and grain for the market. In the winter months
+he hunts bear for profit and recreation. In the spring after his
+planting is done he also runs coyotes with dogs and makes a good income
+on bounties.
+
+We found Murphy a quiet-spoken, intelligent man of forty-five years,
+married, and having two daughters. I was surprised to see such a
+redoubtable bear-slayer so modest and kindly. We liked him immediately.
+It is an interesting observation that all the notable hunters that have
+guided us on our trips have been rather shy, soft-spoken men who
+neither smoked nor drank.
+
+Arthur Young and I constituted the archery brigade. We brought with us
+in the line of artillery two bows and some two dozen arrows apiece. We
+also brought our musical instruments. Not only do we shoot, but in camp
+we sit by the fire at night and play sweet harmonies till bedtime.
+Young is a finished violinist, and he has an instrument so cut down and
+abbreviated that with a short violin bow he can pack it in his bed
+roll. Its sound is very much like that of a violin played with a mute.
+
+My own instrument was an Italian mandolin with its body reduced to a
+box less than three inches square. It also is carried in a blanket roll
+and is known as the camp mosquito.
+
+Young is a master at improvising second parts, double stopping, and
+obbligato accompaniments. So together we call all the sweet melodies
+out of the past and play on indefinitely by ear. In the glow of the
+camp-fire, out in the woods, this music has a peculiar plaintive appeal
+dear to our hearts.
+
+With these charms we soon won the Murphy family and Tom was eager to
+see us shoot. He had heard that we shot deer, but he was rather
+skeptical that our arrows could do much damage to bear. So one of the
+first things he did after our arrival was to drag out an old dried hide
+and hang it on a fence in the corral and asked me to shoot an arrow
+through it. It was surely a test, for the old bear had been a tough
+customer and his hide was half an inch thick and as hard as sole
+leather.
+
+But I drew up at thirty yards and let drive at the neck, the thickest
+portion. My arrow went through half its length and transfixed a paw
+that dangled behind. Tom opened his eyes and smiled. "That will do," he
+said, "if you can get into them that far, that's all you need. I'll
+take you out tomorrow morning, but I'll pack the old Winchester rifle
+just for the sake of the dogs."
+
+The dogs were Tom's real asset, and his hobby. There were five of them.
+The two best, Baldy and Button, were Kentucky coon hounds in their
+prime, probably being descendants of the English fox hound with the
+admixture of harrier and bloodhound strains. Their breed has been in
+the family for thirty years. Tom took great pride in his pack, trained
+them to run nothing but bear and mountain lions, and never let anybody
+else touch them. When not hunting they are kept fastened by a sliding
+leash to a long heavy wire. Their diet was boiled cracked wheat and
+cracklings, raw apples, and bear meat. They never tasted deer meat or
+beef. I never saw more intelligent nor better conditioned hounds.
+
+With the same stock he has hunted ever since he was a boy, and their
+lineage is more important than that of the Murphys. He has taken from
+ten to twenty bears every winter with these dogs for the past thirty
+years.
+
+We were to stay right in Tom's house, and go by horseback to the bear
+grounds next morning. We had a supper which included bear steaks from a
+previous hunt, and doughnuts fried in bear grease, which they say is
+the best possible material for this culinary process, and later we
+greased our bows with bear grease, and our shoes with a mixture of bear
+fat and rosin. So we felt ready for bear.
+
+Then we spent a delightful evening with the family before the big
+fireplace, played our soft music, and all turned in for an early start
+in the morning.
+
+At four o'clock Tom began stirring around, building the fire and
+feeding the horses. An hour later we breakfasted and were ready to
+start. Light snow had fallen in the hills and the air was chill; the
+moon was sinking in the valley mist. These early morning hours in the
+country are strange to us who live so far from nature.
+
+We mount and are off. As we go the horses see the trail that we cannot
+discern, vague forms slip past, a skunk steals off before us, an owl
+flaps noiselessly past, overhanging brush sweeps our faces, the dogs
+leashed in couples trot ahead of us like spectres in procession.
+
+Thus we journey for nearly ten miles in the darkness, going up out of
+the valley, on to the foothills, through Windy Gap, past Sheep Corral,
+over the divide, heading toward the Little Van Duzen River.
+
+
+[Illustration: TOM MURPHY WITH HIS TWO BEST DOGS, BUTTON AND BALDY,
+INDISPENSABLE IN GETTING BEARS]
+
+
+All the while the dogs amble along, sniffing here and there at obscure
+scents, now loitering to investigate a moment, now standing and looking
+off into the dark. Tom knows by their actions what they think. "That's
+a coyote's trail," he says, "they've just crossed a deer scent, but
+they won't pay much attention to that." Their demeanor is
+self-possessed and un-excited.
+
+At last, just before dawn, we arrive on a pine-covered hillside and the
+dogs become more eager. This is the bear country. They cross the canyon
+here to get to the forest of young oak trees, beyond where the autumn
+crop of acorns lies ready to fatten them for their long winter sleep.
+
+Here is a bear tree, a small pine or fir, stripped of limbs and bark,
+against which countless bears have scratched themselves.
+
+Tom looses the dogs and sends them ranging to pick up a scent. They
+take to it with eagerness, and soon we hear the boom of the hounds on a
+cold track. Tom gets interested, but shakes his head. Last night's
+snowfall and later drizzle have spoiled the ground for good tracking.
+We dismount, tie our horses and follow the general direction of the
+pack. They must be kept within earshot so that when they strike a hot
+track we can keep up with them. If there is much wind and the forest
+noises are loud, Tom will not run his dogs for fear of losing them.
+Once on the trail of a bear, they never quit, but will leave the
+country rather than give him up.
+
+Expectation, stimulated by the distant baying of the running hounds,
+the cold gray shadows of the woods, and the knowledge that any moment a
+bear may come crashing through the undergrowth right where we stand,
+tends to hold one in a state of exquisite suspense--not fear, just
+chilly suspense. In fact, I was rather glad to see the sun rise.
+
+But nothing came of this hunt. We worked over the creek bottom below,
+rode over adjacent hills and canyons, struck cold trails here and there
+to assure us that bear really existed, then at about ten o'clock Murphy
+decided that weather conditions of the night before, combined with the
+dissipating effect of sunshine and the lateness of the hour, all
+dictated that we had best give up the game for that day.
+
+So back we rode, the dogs a trifle footsore, for they had covered many
+a mile in their ranging. Tom had shoes for them to wear when they are
+very lame at the first of the season. Later on, their feet become tough
+and need no protection. So we arrived back at the ranch empty-handed.
+
+Next day we rested, and rain fell.
+
+The day following we again tried a hunt and again failed to strike a
+hot track. Tom was perplexed, for it was a rare thing for him to return
+home without a bear. He rather suspected that the bows were a "jinx"
+and brought bad luck. So again we rested the dogs and waited for a
+change of fortune.
+
+The time between hunts Young and I spent shooting rabbits. Once when
+down on the stream bank looking for trout, Young saw a female duck
+diving beneath the surface of the water. As it rose he shot it with an
+arrow and nocking a second shaft, he prepared to deliver a finishing
+blow if necessary, when up the stream he heard the whirring wings of a
+flying duck; instantly he drew his bow, glanced to the left, and shot
+at the rapidly approaching male. Pinioned through the wings, it dropped
+near the first victim and he gathered the two as a tidbit for supper.
+
+These things do happen between our larger adventures, and delight us
+greatly.
+
+The evenings we spent before the fire, played music, and I performed
+sleights of hand, much to the wonderment of the rural audience that
+gathered to see the strangers who expected to kill bears with bows and
+arrows. After numerous coin tricks, card passes, mysterious
+disappearances, productions of wearing apparel and cabbages from a hat,
+and many other incredible feats of prestidigitation, they were almost
+ready to believe we might slay bears with our bows.
+
+Tom's dogs having recovered from our previous unsuccessful trips, we
+started again one crisp frosty morning with the stars all aglitter
+overhead. This time we were sure of good luck. Mrs. Murphy was positive
+we would bring home a bear; she felt it in her bones.
+
+It is cold riding this time in the morning, but it is beautiful. The
+snow-laden limbs of the firs drop their loads upon us as we pass, the
+twigs are whip-like in their recoil as they strike our legs; the horses
+pick their way with surefooted precision, and we wonder what adventures
+wait for us in the silent gloom.
+
+This time we rode far. If bears were to be had any place, they could be
+found in Panther Canyon, below Mt. Lassie.
+
+By sunrise we reached the ridge back of the desired spot where we tied
+our horses preparatory to climbing up the gulch. The dogs were made
+ready; there were only three of them this time: Button, Baldy, and old
+Buck, the shepherd dog. Immediately they struck a cold trail and danced
+around in a circle, baying with long deep bell tones, pleading to be
+released. My breath quivers at the memory of them. Murphy unclasped the
+chains that linked them together and they scampered up the precipitous
+ravine before us. As they passed, Tom pointed out bear tracks, the
+first we had seen.
+
+In less than ten minutes the full-throated bay of the hounds told us
+that they had struck a hot track and routed the bear from his temporary
+den.
+
+That was the signal for speed, and we began a desperate race up the
+side of the mountain. Nothing but perfect physical health can stand
+such a strain. One who is not in athletic training will either fail
+completely in the test or do his heart irreparable damage.
+
+But we were fit; we had trained for the part. Stripped for action, we
+were dressed in hunting breeches, light high-topped shoes spiked on the
+soles, in light cotton shirts, and carried only our bows, quivers of
+arrows, and hunting knives. Tom was a seasoned mountain climber, born
+on the crags, and had knees like a goat. So we ran. Up the side and
+over the crest we sped. The bay of the hounds pealed out with every
+bound ahead of us. As we crossed the ridge, we heard them down the
+canyon below us, the crashing of the bear and the cry of the dogs
+thrilled us with a very old and a very strong flood of emotions.
+Panting and flushed with effort we rushed onward; legs, legs, and more
+air, 'twas all we wanted. Tom is tough and used to altitudes, Young is
+stronger and more youthful than I am, and besides a flapping quiver, an
+unwieldy bow, my camera banged me unmercifully on the back. Still I
+kept up very well, and my early sprinting on the cinder track came to
+my aid. We stuck together, but just as I had about decided that running
+was a physical impossibility, Tom shouted, "He is treed." That was a
+welcome word. We slackened our pace, knowing that the dogs would hold
+him till we arrived, and we needed our breath for the next act. So on a
+trot we came over a rise of ground and saw, away up on the limb of a
+tall straight fir tree, a bear that looked very formidable and large.
+The golden rays of the rising sun were shining through his fur.
+
+That was the first bear I had ever seen in the open, first wild bear,
+first bear with no iron bars between him and me. I felt peculiar.
+
+The dogs were gathered beneath the tree keeping up a chorus of yelps
+and assaulting its base as if to tear it to pieces. The bear apparently
+had no intention of coming down.
+
+Tom had instructed us fully what to do; so we now helped him catch his
+dogs and tie them with a rope which he held. He did this because he
+knew that if we wounded the bear and he descended there was going to be
+a fight, and he didn't want to lose his valuable dogs in an experiment.
+He had his gun to take care of himself, and Young and I were supposed
+to stand our share of the adventure as best we could.
+
+Keen with anticipation of unexpected surprises; wondering, yet willing
+to take a chance, we prepared to shoot our first bear. We stationed
+ourselves some thirty yards from the base of the tree. The bear was
+about seventy-five feet up in the air, facing us, looking down and
+exposing his chest.
+
+We drew our arrows together and a second later released as one man.
+Away flew the two shafts, side by side, and struck the beast in the
+breast, not six inches apart. Like a flash, they melted into his body
+and disappeared forever. He whirled, turned backward, and began sliding
+down the tree.
+
+Ripping and tearing the trunk, he descended almost as if falling, a
+shower of bark preceding him like a cartload of shingles. Tom shouted,
+"You missed him, run up close and shoot him again!" From his side of
+the tree he couldn't see that our arrows had hit and gone through, also
+he was used to seeing bear drop when he hit them with a bullet.
+
+But we were a little diffident about running up close to a wounded
+bear, for Tom had told us it would fight when it got down.
+Nevertheless, we nocked an arrow again, and just as he reached the
+ground we were close by to receive him. We delivered two glancing blows
+on his rapidly falling body. When he landed, however, he selected the
+lower side of the tree, away from us, and bounded off down the canyon.
+We protested that we had hit him and begged Tom to turn his dogs loose.
+After a moment's deliberation, Tom let old Buck go and off he tore in
+hot pursuit. The shepherd was a wily old cattle dog and would keep out
+of harm.
+
+Soon we heard him barking and Murphy exclaimed incredulously, "He's
+treed again!" Button and Baldy were unleashed and once more we started
+our cross-country running. Through maple thickets, over rocky sides,
+down the wooded canyon we galloped. Much sooner than we expected, we
+came to our bear. Hard pressed, he had climbed a small oak and crouched
+out on a swaying limb. We could see that he was heaving badly, and was
+a very sick animal. His gaze was fixed on the howling dogs. Young and I
+ran in close and shot boldly at his swaying body. Our arrows slipped
+through him like magic. One was arrested in its course as it buried
+itself in his shoulder. Savagely he snapped it in two with his teeth,
+when another driven by Young with terrific force struck him above the
+eye. He weakened his hold, slipped backward, dropped from the bending
+limb and rolled over and over down the ravine. The dogs were on him in
+a rush, and wooled him with a vengeance. But he was dead by the time he
+reached the creek bottom. We clambered down, looked him over with awe,
+then Young and I shook hands across the body of our first bear. We took
+his picture.
+
+Tom opened up the chest and abdominal cavity, explored the wounds and
+was full of exclamations of surprise at the damage done by our arrows.
+He agreed that our animal was mortally wounded with our first two
+shots, and had we let him alone there would have been no necessity for
+more arrows. But this being our very first bear, we had overdone the
+killing.
+
+So he gave the liver and lungs to the waiting hounds as a reward for
+their efforts, and cleaned the carcass for carrying. We found the
+stomach full of acorn mush, just as clean and sweet as a mess of
+cornmeal.
+
+Murphy left us to pack the bear up on the pine flat above, while he
+went around three or four miles to get the horses. After a strenuous
+half hour, we got our bear up the steep bank and rested on the flat.
+Here we ate our pocket lunch.
+
+As we sat there quietly eating, we heard a rustle in the woods below
+us, and looking up, saw another good-sized black bear about forty yards
+off. I had one arrow left in my quiver, Young only two broken shafts,
+the rest we had lost in our final scramble. So we passed no insulting
+remarks to the bear below, who suddenly finding our presence, vanished
+in the forest. We had had enough bear for one day, anyhow.
+
+Tom came with the horses, and loaded our trophy on one. Ordinarily a
+horse is greatly frightened at bears, and difficult to manage, but
+these were long ago accustomed to the business. It interested us to see
+the method of tying the carcass securely on a common saddle. By placing
+a clove hitch on the wrists and ankles and cinching these beneath the
+horse's belly with a sling rope through the bear's crotch and around
+its neck, the body was held suspended across the saddle and rode easily
+without shifting until we reached home.
+
+Adult black bear range in weight from one hundred to five hundred
+pounds. Ours, although he had looked very formidable up the tree, was
+really not a very large animal and not fully grown. After cleaning, it
+tipped the scales at a little below two hundred pounds. But it was
+large enough for our purposes, and we couldn't wait for it to grow any
+heavier. It was no fault of ours that it was only some three or four
+years old. We felt that even had it been one of those huge old boys, we
+would have conquered him just the same. In fact, we had begun to count
+ourselves among the intrepid bear slayers of the world. So we returned
+to the ranch in triumph.
+
+
+[Illustration: YOUNG AND I ARE VERY PROUD OF OUR MAIDEN BEAR]
+
+
+Next day we took our departure from Blocksburg and bade the Murphys an
+affectionate farewell. The bear we carried with us wrapped in canvas to
+distribute in luscious steaks to our friends in the city. The beautiful
+silky pelt now rests on the parlor floor of Young's home with a
+ferocious wide open mouth waiting to scare little children, or trip up
+the unwary visitor.
+
+Since this, our maiden bear, we have had various other encounters with
+bruin. Once while hunting mountain lions, we came upon the body of an
+angora goat recently killed by a bear. The ground was covered with his
+ungainly footprints. We set the dogs on the scent and off they went,
+booming in hot pursuit. Running like wild Indians, Young and I followed
+by ear, bows ready strung and quivers held tightly to our sides. In
+less than ten minutes, we burst into a little open glade in the forest
+and saw up in a large madrone tree, a good-sized cinnamon bear
+fretfully eyeing the dogs below.
+
+We had lost our apprehension concerning the outcome of an encounter
+with bears, so we coolly prepared to settle his fate. In fact, we even
+discussed the problem whether or not we should kill him. We were not
+after bears, but lions. This fellow, however, was a rogue, a killer of
+sheep and goats. He had repeatedly thrown our dogs off the track with
+his pungent scent and we were strictly within our hunting rights if we
+wanted him. We therefore drew our broadheads to the barb and drove two
+wicked shafts deep into his front. As if knocked backwards, the bear
+reared and threw himself down the slanting tree trunk. As he reached
+the ground, one of our dogs seized him by the hind leg and the two went
+flying past us within a couple of yards, the dog hanging on like grim
+death. Furiously, the other dogs followed and we leaped to the chase.
+
+This time the course of the bear was marked by a swath of broken brush.
+It dashed headlong through the forest regardless of obstruction. Small
+trees in his way meant nothing to him; he ran over them, or if old and
+brittle, smashed them down. Into the densest portion of the woods he
+made his way. Not more than three hundred yards from the spot he
+started, he treed again. In an almost impenetrable thicket of small
+cedars, the dogs sent up their chorus of barks. I dashed in, fighting
+my way free from restraining limbs, the bow and quiver holding me again
+and again. Young got stuck and fell behind, so that I came alone upon
+our bear at bay. He had mounted but a short distance up a mighty oak
+and hung by his claws to the bark. I had run beneath him before seeing
+his position. Instantly I recognized the danger of the situation and
+backed off, away from the tree, at the same time nocking an arrow on
+the string. I glanced about for Young, but he was detained, so I drew
+the head and discharged my arrow right into the heart region of our
+beast, where it buried its point. Loosening his hold, the bear fell
+backward from the tree and landed on the nape of his neck. He was weak
+with mortal wounds, and even had he wanted to charge me, the combat
+could not have progressed far. But instantly the dogs were on him.
+Seizing him by the front and back legs, they dragged him around a small
+tree, holding him firmly in spite of his struggles, while he bawled
+like a lost calf. The din was terrific; snarling, snapping dogs, the
+crashing underbrush, and the bellowing of bear made the world hideous.
+It seemed that the pain of our arrows was nothing to him compared to
+his fear of the dogs, and when he felt himself helpless in their power,
+his morale was completely shattered.
+
+It was soon over; hardly a minute elapsed before his resistless form
+lay still, and even the dogs knew he was dead. Poor Young arrived at
+this moment, having just extricated himself from the brush.
+
+We skinned the pelt to make quivers, took his claws for decorations,
+and cut some sweet bear steaks from his hams; the rest we gave to the
+pack.
+
+It seems a very proper thing that the service of the dogs should always
+be recognized promptly, that they be given their share of the spoils
+and that they be praised for their courage and fidelity. This makes
+them better hunters. Stupid men who drive off their dogs from the
+quarry, defer their rewards, and grudge them praise, kill the spirit of
+the chase within them and spoil them for work.
+
+Hounds have the finest hunting spirit of any animal. The team work of
+the wolf and their intelligent use of strategy is one of the most
+striking evidences of community interests in animal life.
+
+The fellowship between us and our dogs is a most satisfactory relation.
+Since prehistoric times, the hunter has taken advantage of the
+comradeship and on it rests the mutual dependence and trust of the two.
+
+Altogether, bringing bears to bay is among the most thrilling
+experiences of life. It is a primitive sport and as such it stirs up in
+the human breast the primordial emotions of men. The sense of danger,
+the bodily exhaustion, the ancestral blood lust, the harkening bay of
+the hounds, the awe of deep-shadowed forests, and the return to an
+almost hand-to-claw contest with the beast, call upon a latent manhood
+that is fast disappearing in the process of civilization.
+
+I hope there always will be bears to hunt and youthful adventurers to
+chase them.
+
+
+
+
+XIII
+
+
+MOUNTAIN LIONS
+
+
+The cougar, panther, or mountain lion is our largest representative of
+the cat family. Early settlers in the Eastern States record the
+existence of this treacherous beast in their conquest of the forests.
+The cry of the "painter," as he was called, rang through the dark woods
+and caused many hearts to quaver and little children to run to mother's
+side. Once in a while stories came of human beings having met their
+doom at the swift stealthy leap of this dreaded beast. He was bolder
+then than now. Today he is not less courageous, but more cautious. He
+has learned the increased power of man's weapons.
+
+Our Indians knew that he would strike, as they struck, without warning
+and at an advantage. It is a matter of tradition among frontiersmen
+that he has upon rare occasions attacked and killed bears. Even today
+he will attack man if provoked by hunger, and can do so with some
+assurance of success, the statements of certain naturalists to the
+contrary notwithstanding.
+
+John Capen Adams, in his adventures, [1]
+[Footnote 1: _The Adventures of James Capen Adams of California_, by
+Theodore H. Hittell.]
+describes such an episode. The lion in this instance sprang upon a
+companion, seized him by the back of the neck, and bore him to the
+ground. He was only saved from death by a thick buckskin collar to his
+coat and the ready assistance of Adams who heard the cry for help.
+
+I know of an instance where a California lion leaped upon some bathing
+children and attempted to kill them, but was driven off by the heroic
+efforts of a young woman school teacher, who in turn died of her
+wounds.
+
+Those of us who have roamed the wilds of the western country have had
+varying experiences with this animal, while others have lived their
+lives in districts undoubtedly infested with cougars and have never
+seen one, although nearly every mountain rancher has heard that
+hair-raising, almost human scream echo down the canyon. It is like the
+wail of a woman in pain. Penetrating and quavering, it rings out on the
+night gloom, and brings to the human what it must, in a similar way,
+bring to the lesser animals a sense of impending attack, a death
+warning. It is part of the system of the predatory beast that he uses
+fear to weaken the powers of his prey before he assaults it. Animal
+psychology is essentially utilitarian. Cowering, trembling, muscularly
+relaxed, on the verge of emotional shock, we are easier to overcome.
+
+The cougar lives principally on deer. His kill averages more than one a
+week, and often we may find evidence that this murderer has wantonly
+slain two or three deer in a single night's expedition.
+
+It is not his habit to lie in wait on the limb of a tree, though he
+often sleeps there; but he makes a stealthy approach on the
+unsuspecting victim, then, with a series of stupendous bounds, he
+throws himself upon the deer, and by his momentum bears it to the
+ground. Here, while he holds on with teeth and forelegs, he rips open
+the flank with his hind claws and immediately plunges his head into the
+open abdomen, where he tears the great blood vessels with his teeth and
+drinks its life blood.
+
+These are facts learned from lion hunters whose observations are
+accurate and reliable. A lion can jump a distance greater than
+twenty-four feet, and has been seen to ascend at a single leap a cliff
+of rock eighteen feet high.
+
+Their weight runs from one hundred to two hundred pounds, and the
+length from six to nine feet. The skin will stretch farther than this,
+but we count only the carcass from the tip of the nose to the tip of
+the extended tail. The speed of a lion for a short distance is greater
+than that of a greyhound, less than five seconds to the hundred yards.
+
+Some observers contend that the lion never gives that blood-curdling
+cry assigned to him. They say he is silent, and that this classic
+scream is made by a lynx in the mating period. However, popular
+experience to the contrary seems to be too strong and counterbalances
+this iconoclastic opinion.
+
+For many years, off and on, we have hunted lions, but sad to say, we
+have done more hunting than finding. They are a very wary creature.
+Practically, one never sees them unless hunting with dogs; they may be
+in the brush within thirty yards, but the human eye will fail to
+discern them.
+
+Our camps have been robbed by lions, our horses killed by them, cattle
+and sheep ruthlessly murdered; lion tracks have been all about, and yet
+unless trapped or treed by dogs, we have never met.
+
+Camping at the base of Pico Blanco, in Monterey County, several years
+ago, a lion was seen to bound across the road and follow a small band
+of deer. At this very spot a few seasons before one leaped upon an old
+mare with foal and broke her neck as she crashed through the fence and
+rolled down the hill. Three years later I rode the young horse. As we
+passed the tree from which it is thought the lion sprang, where the
+broken fence was still unmended, my colt jumped and reared, the memory
+of his fright was still vivid in his mind. Up the trail a half mile
+beyond we saw other fresh lion tracks. At night we camped on the ridge
+with our dogs in hope that our feline friend would come again.
+
+It was too late to hunt that evening, so we turned in. Nothing happened
+save that in the middle of the night I was roused by the whine of our
+dogs, and looking up in the face of the pale moon, I saw two deer go
+bounding past, silhouetted like graceful phantoms across the silvered
+sky. They swept across the lunar disc and melted into blackness over
+the dark horizon.
+
+No sound followed them, and having appeased the fretful hounds, we
+returned to sleep. In the morning, up the trail, there were his tracks;
+too wise to cross the human scent, and knowing that there are more deer
+in the brush, he had turned upon his course and let his quarry slip.
+
+Because of the heat and the inferior tracking capacity of our dogs, we
+never got this panther. A lion dog is a specialist and must be so
+trained that no other track will divert him from his quest. These dogs
+were willing, but erratic.
+
+The best dogs for this work are mongrels. By far the finest lion dog I
+ever saw was a cross between a shepherd and an airedale. He had the
+intelligence of the former and the courage of the latter. The airedale
+himself is not a good trailer, he is too temperamental. He will start
+on a lion track, jump off and chase a deer and wind up by digging out a
+ground squirrel. After a good hound finds a lion, the airedale will
+tackle him.
+
+We once started an airedale on a lion track, followed him at a fiendish
+pace, dashed down the side of a mountain, and found that he had an
+angora goat up a tree.
+
+This cougar on Pico Blanco still roams the forests, so far as I know,
+and many with him. Once we saw him across a canyon. He appeared as a
+tawny slow-moving body as large as a deer but low to the earth and
+trailing a listless tail, while his head slowly swung from side to
+side. He seemed to be looking for something on the ground. For the
+space of a hundred yards we watched him traverse an open side hill,
+deep in ferns and brakes. Seeing him thus was little satisfaction to
+us, for we had lost our dogs. Ferguson and I were returning from one of
+our unsuccessful expeditions.
+
+We started with two saddle horses, a pack animal, and five good lion
+dogs. On the trail to the Ventana Mountains we came across lion tracks
+and followed them for a day, then lost them; but we knew that a large
+male and young female were ranging over the country. Their circuit
+extended over a radius of ten miles; they are great travelers.
+
+The track of a lion is characteristic. The general contour is round,
+from three to four inches in diameter. There are four toe prints
+arranged in a semicircle which show no claw marks. But the ball of the
+foot is the unmistakable feature. It consists of three distinct
+eminences or pads which lie parallel, antero-posteriorly, and appear in
+the track as if you had pressed the terminal phalanges of your fingers
+side by side in the dust. These marks are nearly equal in length and
+absolutely identify the big cat.
+
+On the morning of the second day of our trailing this lion, our pack
+was working down in the thick brush below the crest of Rattlesnake
+Ridge, when suddenly they raised a chorus of yelps. There was a rush of
+bodies in the chamise brush, and the chase was on at a furious pace. We
+rode up to an observation point and saw the dogs speeding down the
+canyon side, close on the heels of a yellow leaping demon. They
+switched from side to side, as cat and dog races have been carried on
+since time immemorial.
+
+The undergrowth was so dense we could not follow, so we sat our horses
+and waited for them to tree. But further and further they descended.
+They crossed the bottom, mounted a cliff on the opposite side, came
+scrambling down from this and plunged into the bed of the stream, where
+their voices were lost to hearing.
+
+We rode around to a spur of the hill that dipped into the brush and
+overhung the canyon. From this we heard occasional barks away down at
+least a mile below us. It was a difficult situation. Nothing but a
+bluejay could possibly get down to the creek below. I never saw such a
+jungle! So we waited for the indications that the lion was treed, but
+all became silent.
+
+Evening approached, we ate our supper and then sat on the hill above,
+sounding our horns. Their vibrant echoes rang from mountain to mountain
+and returned to us clear and sweet.
+
+Way down below us, where a purple haze hung over the deep ravine, we
+faintly heard the answering hounds. In their voices we caught the dog's
+response to his master and friend. It said, "We have him. Come! Come!"
+We blew the horns again. The elf-land notes returned again and again,
+and with them came the call of the faithful hound, "We are here. Come!
+Come!"
+
+Now, there was a pitiful plight. No sane man would venture down such a
+chasm, impenetrable with thorns, and night descending. So we built a
+beacon fire and waited for dawn. All during the long dark hours we
+heard the distant appeal of the hounds, and we slept little.
+
+At the first rays of dawn we took a hasty meal, fed our horses, and
+stripping ourselves of every unnecessary accoutrement, we prepared to
+descend the canyon. Our bows and quivers we left behind because it
+would have been impossible to drag them through the jungle. Ferguson
+carried only his Colt pistol; I took my hunting knife.
+
+Having surveyed the topography carefully, we attacked the problem at
+its most available angle and slid from view. We literally dived beneath
+the brush. For more than two hours we wormed our way down the face of
+the mountain, crawling like moles at the base of the overhanging
+thickets of poison oak, wild lilac, chamise, sage, manzanita, hazel and
+buckthorn. At last we reached the depth of the canyon and, finding a
+little water, we bathed our sweat-grimed faces and cooled off.
+
+No sound of the dogs was heard, but pressing forward we followed the
+boulder-strewn bottom of the creek for a mile or more, almost
+despairing of ever finding them, when suddenly we came upon a strange
+sight. There was the pack in a circle about a big reclining oak. They
+were voiceless and utterly exhausted, but sat watching a huge lion
+crouched on a great overhanging limb of the tree. The moment we
+appeared they raised a feeble, hoarse yelp of delight. The panther
+turned his head, saw us, sprang from the tree with a prodigious bound,
+landed on the side hill, tore down the canyon, and leaped over a
+precipice below.
+
+The dogs, heartened by our presence, with instant accord charged after
+the lion. When they came to the precipitous drop in the bed of the
+stream, they whined a second, ran back and forth, then mounted the
+lateral wall, circled sidewise and, by a detour, gained the ground
+below. We ran and looked over. The drop was at least thirty feet. The
+cat had taken it without hesitation, but we were absolutely stalled.
+Even if we had cared to take the risk of the descent, we saw so many
+similar drops beyond that the situation was hopeless. The dogs having
+lost their voices, we were at a great disadvantage. So we returned to
+the tree to rest and meditate.
+
+There we saw the evidence of the long vigil of the night. All about its
+base were little nests, where the tired dogs had bedded down and kept
+their weary watch. Their incessant barking had served to keep the
+cougar treed, but it cost them a temporary loss of voice. Poor devils,
+they had our admiration and sympathy.
+
+At noon, hearing nothing from the hounds, we decided to return to camp.
+If coming down was hard, going up was herculean. We crawled on hands
+and knees, dragged ourselves by projecting roots, panted, rested, and
+worked again. After a three-hours' struggle we came out upon a rough
+ledge of granite, a mile below the spot at which we aimed, but near
+enough to the top to permit us, after a little more brush fighting, to
+gain our camp and lie down, too fatigued to eat.
+
+For another day we remained at this place, hoping that the dogs would
+return, but in vain. At last we decided to pack up and go around a
+ten-mile detour and work up the outlet of the canyon. We left a mess of
+food in several piles for the dogs should they return, and knew they
+could follow our horses' tracks if they came to camp.
+
+But our detour was futile. We lost all signs of our pack and returned
+to our headquarters to await results.
+
+It was on this homeward journey that we saw the lion of Pico Blanco,
+and had to let him slip.
+
+Ten days later, two weak, emaciated hounds came into camp, an old
+veteran and a young dog that trailed after him as if tied with a rope.
+He had followed him to save his life, and for days after he could not
+be separated without whining with fear.
+
+We fed them carefully and nursed them back to health. But these were
+all of the five to appear. Old Belle, the greatest fighter of them all,
+was gone. She must have met her death at the claws of the cougar, for
+nothing else could keep her. This ended that particular lion hunt.
+
+In our travels over California in search for cougars, we have picked up
+more tales than trails of the big cats.
+
+Just before one of my visits to Gorda, on the Monterey Coast, a panther
+visited the Mansfield ranch in broad daylight. Jasper being up on the
+mountainside after deer, his wife, left at home with the two little
+children, noticed a very large lion out in the pasture back of the
+house. It wandered among the cattle in a most unconcerned manner and
+did not even cause a stir. While it did not approach any of the cows
+very closely, they seemed to be not in the least alarmed. For half an
+hour or more it stayed in the neighborhood of the house, where Mrs.
+Mansfield locked herself in and waited for her husband's return. It was
+not until evening, and too late to track the beast, that Jasper came
+home. So no capture was made.
+
+Some time before this, one of the hired hands on the ranch was going to
+his cabin in the dusk; and swinging his hand idly to catch the tops of
+tall grass by the side of the path, he suddenly touched something warm
+and soft. Instantly he grasped a handful of the substance. At the same
+moment some sort of an animal bounded off in the dark. Holding fast to
+the material in his hand, he ran back to the farmhouse and found his
+fist full of lion hair. To say that he was startled, puts it very
+mildly. Apparently one of these beasts had been crouched on a log by
+the side of his path, waiting for something to turn up. The hired man
+took a lantern home with him after that.
+
+At another ranch on the Big Sur River, one of the little boys called to
+his mother that there was a funny sort of a "big dog" out in the
+pasture. His mother paid no attention to it, but a diminutive pet black
+and tan started an assault on the animal in question. The lion and the
+dog disappeared in the brush. Presently the canine barking ceased and
+the small boy wondered what had become of his valiant companion. In a
+few minutes he heard a plaintive whine up in a near-by tree, and
+running to its base he found that the panther had seized his pet by the
+nape of the neck and climbed a tall fir with him. The boy ran for his
+father, working in the fields, who, bringing his rifle, dispatched the
+panther. As it fell from the tree, the little dog clung to the upper
+limbs, and stayed at the top. Nothing they could do would coax him
+down. The fir was one difficult to climb, so to save time the man took
+an ax and felled the tree, which, falling gently against another,
+precipitated the canine hero to the ground without harm. Later I had
+the pleasure of shaking his paw and congratulating him on his bravery.
+
+After many futile attempts, at last our opportunity to get a _Felis
+Concolor_ arrived. We received word from a certain ranger station in
+Tuolumne County that a mountain lion was killing sheep and deer in the
+immediate vicinity, and having the promise of a well trained pack,
+Arthur Young and I gathered our archery tackle and started from San
+Francisco at night in an automobile. We traveled until the small hours
+of the morning, then lay down on the side of the road to take a short
+sleep; and rising at the first gray of dawn, sped on our way.
+
+We reached the Sierras by sun-up and began to climb. At noon we met our
+guide above Italian Bar, and prepared for an evening hunt. This,
+however, was as unsatisfactory as evening hunts usually are.
+
+A morning expedition the next day only brought out the fact that our
+lion had left the country. News of his activities twelve miles further
+up the mountains having been obtained, we gathered our bows, arrows,
+and dogs and departed for this region. Here we found a bloody record of
+his work. More than two hundred goats had been killed by the big cat in
+the past year. In fact, the rancher thought that several panthers were
+at work. Goats were taken from beneath the shepherd's nose, and as he
+turned in one direction, another goat would be killed behind him. It
+seemed impossible to apprehend the villain; their dogs were useless.
+
+Equipped for rough camping, we soon planned our morning excursion and
+bedded down for rest.
+
+At 3 o'clock we waked, ate a meager breakfast, and hit the trail up the
+mountain. We knew the general range of our cougar. It is necessary in
+all his tracking to get in the field while the dew is on the ground and
+before the sun dissipates it, also before the goats obliterate the
+tracks.
+
+Arrived at the crest of the ridge, we struck a well-defined goat trail,
+and soon the fresh tracks of a lion were discovered. Our dogs took up
+the scent at once and we began to travel at a rapid pace.
+
+Here again, one must have a good pair of legs. If automobiles,
+elevators, and general laziness have not ruined your powers of
+locomotion, you may follow the dogs; otherwise, you had best stay at
+home.
+
+At first we walk, then we trot, and when with a leap the hounds start
+in full cry, we race. Regardless of five thousand feet of altitude,
+regardless of brush, rocks, and dizzy cliffs, we follow at a breakneck
+pace. I don't know where our breath comes from in these trials. We just
+have to run; in fact, we have planned to run on our hands when our legs
+play out. With pounding hearts we surge ahead. "Keep the dogs within
+hearing!" "It can't last long!" But this time we come to a sudden halt
+on a rocky slide. We've lost the scent. The dogs circle and backtrack
+and work with feverish haste. The sun has risen, and up the mountain
+side comes a band of goats led by a single shepherd dog--no man in
+sight. We shout to the dog to steer his rabble away, but on they come,
+and obliterate our trail with a thousand hoofprints and a cloud of
+dust.
+
+The sun then comes out, and our day is done. No felis this time.
+
+So we scout the country for information to be used later, and return to
+camp to drown our sorrow in food.
+
+This was my first knowledge that a dog could be placed in charge of a
+flock of sheep or goats. It seems that these little sheep dogs, not
+even collies, but some shaggy little plebeians, are given full charge
+of the band. They lead them out to pasture, guard them, and keep them
+together during the day and bring them home at night. They will, when
+properly instructed, take a band of goats out for a week on a long
+route, and bring them all safely home again. At least, they used to do
+this until the lion appeared on the scene.
+
+That evening we asked the rancher to lock his goats in the corral till
+noon.
+
+Next morning we rose again in time to see the morning star glitter with
+undimmed glory. Up the trail we mounted, the dogs eager for the chase.
+An old owl in a hollow tree asked us again and again who we were; all
+else was silent in the woods.
+
+Saving our strength, we arrived quietly on the upper ridges and waited
+for the dawn. Way down below us in the canyon we could smell the faint
+incense of our camp-fire. The morning breeze was just beginning to
+breathe in the trees. The birds awoke with little whispered
+confidences, small twitterings and chirps. A faint lavender tint melted
+the stars in the eastern sky. Shadows crept beneath the trees, and we
+knew it was time to start.
+
+Just as the light defined the margins of the trail, we picked up in the
+grayness the track of a lion. Strange to say, the dogs had not smelled
+it, but when we pointed to the footprint in the dust, which was
+apparently none too fresh, they took up the work of tracking. It is
+astonishing to see how a dog can tell which way a track leads. If in
+doubt, he runs quickly back and forth on the scent, and thus gauges the
+way the animal has progressed. A mediocre dog cannot do this, but we
+had dogs with college educations.
+
+Traveling carefully and at a moderate pace, we came to an open knoll in
+the forest. Here in the ferns our pack circled about us as if the cat
+had been doing a circus stunt, and they seemed confused. Later on we
+found that our feline friend had been experimenting with a porcupine
+and learned another lesson in natural history.
+
+Suddenly the leader sniffed at a fallen tree where, doubtless, the cat
+had perched, then with a ringing bay, the hound clamped his tail close
+to his rump and left in a streak of yellow light. The rest of the pack
+leaped into full cry.
+
+We were off on a hot track. Oh, for the wings of a bird! Trained as
+Young and I were to desperate running, this game taxed us to the
+utmost. First we climbed the knoll, deep in ferns and mountain misery,
+then we dashed over the crest, tore through manzanita brush, thickets
+of young cedar and buckthorn, over ledges of lava rock, down deep
+declivities, among giant oaks, cedars, and pines. As we ran we grasped
+our ready strung bows in one hand and the flapping quivers in the
+other.
+
+You would not think that at this time we could take note of the
+fragrant shrubs and pine needles beneath our feet, but I smelled them
+as we passed in flight, and they revived me to renewed energy. On we
+rushed, only to lose the sound of the dogs. Then we listened and caught
+it down the hill below us. Again we hurdled barriers of brush, took
+long sliding leaps down the treacherous shale and ran breathless to the
+shade of a great oak.
+
+There above our heads was the lion. Oh, the beauty of that beast!
+
+Heaving and giddy with exertion, we saw a wonderful sight, a great
+tawny, buff-colored body crouched on a limb, grace and power in every
+outline. A huge, soft cylindrical tail swung slowly back and forth.
+
+Luminous eyes gazed at us in utmost calm, a cold calculating calm. He
+watched and waited our next move, waited with his great muscles tense
+for action.
+
+We retreated, not only to get out of his reach, but to gain a better
+shooting position. As we did this, he gave a lithe leap to a higher
+limb and shielded himself as best he could behind the boughs of the
+tree.
+
+From our position, his chest and throat were visible through a
+triangular space in the branches, not more than a foot across. We must
+shoot through this. His attitude was so huddled that his head hung over
+his shoulder.
+
+Young and I caught our breath, drew our arrows from their quivers,
+nocked them, and set ourselves in the archer's "stable stand." We drew
+together and, at a mutual thought, shot together. Because of our
+unsteady condition the arrows flew a trifle wild. Mine buried itself in
+the lion's shoulder. Young's hit him in the nose.
+
+He reared and struck at this latter shaft, then, not dislodging it,
+began swaying back and forth while with both front paws he fought the
+arrow.
+
+While he thrashed about thus in the tree top, we nocked two more arrows
+and shot. We both missed the brute. Young's flew off into the next
+state, and if you ever go up into Tuolumne County, you will find mine
+buried deep in the heart of an oak.
+
+Just as we nocked a third arrow, he freed himself from the offending
+shaft in his muzzle, raised his fore-paws upon a limb and prepared to
+leap. In that movement he bared the white hair of his throat and chest,
+and like a flash, two keen arrows were driven through his heart area.
+
+
+[Illustration: ARTHUR YOUNG AND HIS COUGAR]
+
+
+[Illustration: OUR FIRST MOUNTAIN LION]
+
+
+[Illustration: WE PACK THE PANTHER TO CAMP]
+
+As they struck and disappeared from sight, he leaped. Like a flying
+squirrel, he soared over our heads. Full seventy-five feet he cleared
+in one mighty outward, downward bound. I saw his body glint across the
+rising sun, swoop in a wonderful curve and land in a sheltering bush.
+
+The dogs threw themselves upon him. There was a medley of sounds, a
+fierce, but brief fight, and all was over. We grabbed him by the tail
+and dragged him forth--dead. The ringleader of our pack, trembling with
+excitement, effort, and fighting frenzy, drove all the other dogs away
+and took possession of the body. No one but a man, his master, might
+touch it.
+
+Our lion was a young male, six feet eight inches from tip to tip, and
+weighing a little over one hundred and twenty pounds. Later, as we
+skinned him, we found his paws full of porcupine quills, speaking
+loudly of his recent experience. The stomach was empty; the chest was
+full of blood from our arrows.
+
+He was as easy to kill as a deer. We packed him back to camp and added
+his photograph to our rogues' gallery.
+
+There was no further goat killing on that Sierra ranch.
+
+This was our first lion, and for me so far, my only one. Arthur Young,
+however, has been fortunate enough to land two cougars by himself on
+another hunting trip.
+
+Captain C. H. Styles, a recent addition to the ranks of field archers,
+while on an expedition to cut yew staves in Humboldt County,
+California, started a mountain lion, ran him to bay with hounds, and
+killed him with one arrow in the chest. We shall undoubtedly hear more
+of the captain later on.
+
+But so long as we can draw a bowstring and our legs hold out, and there
+is an intelligent dog to be had, it will not be the last lion on our
+list. Wherever there are deer, there will be found panthers, and it is
+our business to help reduce their number in the game fields to maintain
+the balance of power.
+
+
+
+
+XIV
+
+
+GRIZZLY BEAR
+
+
+The very idea of shooting grizzly bears with the bow and arrow strikes
+most people as so absurd that they laugh at the mention of it. The
+mental picture of the puny little archery implements of their childhood
+opposed to that of the largest and most fearsome beast of the Western
+world, produces merriment and incredulity.
+
+Because it seemed so impossible, I presume, this added to our desire to
+accomplish it.
+
+Ever since we began hunting with the bow, we had talked of shooting
+grizzlies. We thought of an Alaskan trip as a remotely attainable
+adventure, and planned murderous arrows of various ingenious spring
+devices to increase their cutting qualities. We estimated the power of
+formidable bows necessary to pierce the hides of these monsters. In
+fact, it was the acme of our hunting desires.
+
+We read the biography of John Capen Adams and his adventures with the
+California grizzlies, and Roosevelt's admirable descriptions of these
+animals. They filled out our dreams with detail. And after killing
+black bears we needed only the opportunity to make our wish become an
+exploit.
+
+The opportunity to do this arrived unexpectedly, as many opportunities
+seem to, when the want and the preparedness coincide.
+
+The California Academy of Sciences has in its museum in Golden Gate
+Park, San Francisco, a collection of very fine animal habitat groups,
+among which are deer, antelope, mountain sheep, cougars, and brown
+bear. While an elk group was being installed, it happened that the
+taxidermist, Mr. Paul Fair, said to me that the next and final setting
+would be one of grizzly bears. In surprise, I asked him if it were not
+a fact that the California grizzly was extinct. He said this was true,
+but the silver-tip bear of Wyoming was a grizzly and its range extended
+westward to the Sierra Nevada Mountains; so it could properly be
+classified as a Pacific Coast variety. He cited Professor Merriam's
+monograph on the classification of grizzlies to prove his statements.
+He also informed me that permit might be obtained from Washington to
+secure these specimens in Yellowstone National Park.
+
+Immediately I perceived an opportunity and interviewed Dr. Barton
+Everman, curator of the museum, concerning the feasibility of offering
+our services in taking these bears at no expense to the academy.
+Incidentally, we proposed to shoot them with the bow and arrow, and
+thereby answer a moot question in anthropology. The proposition
+appealed to him, and he wrote to Washington for a permit to secure
+specimens in this National Park, stating that the bow and arrow would
+be used. I insisted upon this latter stipulation, so that there should
+be no misunderstanding if, in the future, any objection was raised to
+this method of hunting.
+
+In a very short time permit was given to the academy, and we started
+our preparations for the expedition. This was late in the fall of 1919,
+and bear were at their best in the spring, just after hibernation; so
+we had ample time.
+
+It was planned that Mr. Compton, Mr. Young, and I should be the
+hunters, and such other assistance would be obtained as seemed
+necessary. We began reviewing our experience and formulating the
+principles of the campaign.
+
+Our weapons we now considered adequate in the light of our contact with
+black bears. We had found that our bows were as strong as we could
+handle, and ample to drive a good arrow through a horse, a fact which
+we had demonstrated upon the carcasses of recently dead animals.
+
+But we decided to add to the length of our arrowheads, and use tempered
+instead of soft steel as heretofore. We took particular pains to have
+them perfect in every detail.
+
+Then we undertook the study of the anatomy of bears and the location
+and size of their vital organs. In the work of William Wright on the
+grizzly, we found valuable data concerning the habits and nature of
+these animals.
+
+In spite of the reputation of this bear for ferocity and tenacity of
+life, we felt that, after all, he was only made of flesh and blood, and
+our arrows were capable of solving the problem.
+
+We also began preparing ourselves for the contest. Although habitually
+in good physical condition, we undertook special training for the big
+event. By running, the use of dumbbells and other gymnastic practices,
+we strengthened our muscles and increased our endurance. Our field
+shooting was also directed toward rapid delivery and the quick judgment
+of distances on level, uphill, and falling ground. In fact, we planned
+to leave no factor for success untried.
+
+My brother, G. D. Pope, of Detroit, being a hunter of big game with the
+gun, was invited to join the party, and his advice was asked concerning
+a reliable guide. He gladly consented to come with us and share the
+expenses. At the same time he suggested Ned Frost, of Cody, Wyoming, as
+the most experienced hunter of grizzly bears in America.
+
+About this time one of my professional friends visited the Smithsonian
+Institute at Washington, where he met a member of the staff, who
+inquired if he knew Doctor Pope, of San Francisco, a man that was
+contemplating shooting grizzlies with the bow and arrow. The doctor
+replied that he did, whereat the sage laughed and said that the feat
+was impossible, most dangerous and foolhardy; it could not be done. We
+fully appreciated the danger involved--therein lay some of the zest.
+But we also knew that even should we succeed in killing them in
+Yellowstone Park, the glory would be sullied by the popular belief that
+all park bears are hotel pets, live upon garbage, and that it was a
+cruel shame to torment them with arrows.
+
+So in my early correspondence with Frost, I assured him that we did not
+want to shoot any tame bears and that we would not consider the trip at
+all if this were necessary. He assured us that this was not necessary,
+and reminded us that Yellowstone Park was fifty miles wide by sixty
+miles long, and that some of the highest portions of the Rocky
+Mountains lay in it. The animals in this preserve, he said, were far
+from tame and the bears were divided into two distinct groups, one
+mostly composed of black and brown with a few inferior specimens of
+grizzlies that frequent the dumps back of the camps and hotels, and
+another group of bears that never came near civilization, but lived
+entirely up in the rugged mountains and were as dangerous and wary as
+those in Alaska or any other wild country. These bear wander outside
+the park and furnish hunting material throughout the neighboring State.
+He promised to put us in communication with grizzlies that were as
+unspoiled and unafraid as those first seen by Lewis and Clarke in their
+early explorations.
+
+After explaining the purposes of our trip and the use of the bow, Ned
+Frost agreed that it was a real sporting proposition and took up the
+plan with enthusiasm. I sent him a sample arrow we used in hunting, and
+his letter in reply I take the liberty of printing. It is typical of
+the frontier spirit and comes, not only from the foremost grizzly
+hunter of all times, but discloses the man's bigness of heart:
+
+    "My dear Doctor:
+
+    "Your letter of the 18th was received a day or so ago, and last
+    night I received 'Good Medicine' [a hunting arrow] on the evening
+    train, and I feel better away down deep about this hunt after a
+    good examination of this little Grizzly Tickler than I have at any
+    time before. I have, by mistake, let it simmer out in a quiet way
+    that I was going to see what a grizzly would really do if he had a
+    few sticks stuck in his innerds, and my friends have been giving
+    the Mrs. and me a regular line of farewell parties. Really, I think
+    it has been a splendid paying thing to do; pork chops are high, you
+    know, and I really feel I am off to the good about nine dollars and
+    six bits worth of bacon and flour right now on this deal. Maybe
+    I'll be in debt to you before green-grass if I don't look out.
+
+    "Well, anyway, here is hoping we will all live through it and have
+    a dandy time. Don't worry about coming to blows with the bear; I
+    have noticed from long experience that it is not the times that you
+    think a bear is going to give you trouble that it happens, but
+    always when least expected. I have trailed wounded grizzlies time
+    and time again, and was more or less worried all the while, but
+    never had one turn on me yet. Then, too, I have had about three
+    experiences with them that made my hair stand straight up, and when
+    it finally settled, it had more FROST in it than ever before; and
+    let me add right here, that one of the worst places I ever got into
+    was when I had sixteen of the best bear dogs that were ever gotten
+    together I believe, after an old she-grizzly, and I was like you,
+    thought they would hold the bear's attention. BUT, don't let any
+    notion like this get you into trouble. Now, I am not running down
+    dogs as a means of getting bear; I love them and would now have a
+    good pack if it was possible to run them in the game fields of this
+    State, but you don't want to think that they can handle a grizzly
+    like they do a black bear. In fact, I would place no value on them
+    whatsoever as a safeguard in case a grizzly got on the pack, and I
+    am speaking from experience, mind you. No, a good little shepherd
+    would do more than a dozen regular bear dogs, but there is only
+    about one little shepherd like I speak of in a lifetime.
+
+    "If you can use the bow from horseback, here is a safe proposition,
+    and I believe a practical one, too. But I don't feel that there is
+    really so much danger in the game after all, as it is only once in
+    a great while that any bear will go up against the human animal,
+    and then is most likely to be when you are not expecting it at all.
+    Don't worry about it. What I am thinking about most is to get the
+    opportunity to get the first arrow into some good big worthy old
+    boy that will be a credit to the expedition.
+
+    "There are lots of grizzlies in the park all right, and some of
+    them are not very wild, but if you get out away from the hotels a
+    few miles, they are not going to come up and present their
+    broadsides to you at thirty yards. So, as I say, I am thinking
+    mostly about the chances of getting the opportunities. I don't
+    know, of course, just how close you can place your arrows at thirty
+    yards, and it is getting the first hole into them that I am most
+    interested in now. I feel that we ought to get some good chances,
+    as I have seen so many bear in the park; but, of course, have never
+    hunted them and don't know just how keen they will be when it comes
+    right down to getting their hides. There are some scattered all
+    over the park that will rob a camp at night, and some of them will
+    even put up a fight for it, but most of them will beat it as soon
+    as one gets after them.
+
+    "It would be impossible, I believe, to keep dogs still while
+    watching a bait, as they would get the scent of any approaching
+    bear, and then you would not be able to keep them quiet, and they
+    would most likely scare the bear out of the country. I can rustle a
+    few dogs to take along if you want them, and pretty good dogs, too;
+    but I am not strong for them myself only in this way, to put them
+    on the trail of a bear and take a good horse apiece, so that we
+    could get up to the chase and have a chance to land on him. This
+    might be a good thing to try if all others failed.
+
+    "I know how you feel about killing clean with the bow and not
+    having any shooting, and I can assure you that I would let 'em get
+    just as close as you want them, and not feel any concern about
+    their getting the best of anybody, and you would have a chance to
+    use the bow well in this case; but I am more prone to think they
+    will beat it off with a lot of your perfectly good arrows than
+    anything else.
+
+    "Yours truly,
+
+    "NED FROST."
+
+
+ It was apparent from the first that dogs were of little use in taking
+grizzly. It would be necessary to shoot from blinds set conveniently
+near bait. Frost assured us that bears of this variety, when just out
+of hibernation and lean, would run out of the country if chased by a
+pack of dogs, and incidentally kill all that they could catch. In the
+fall of the year, when the bears are fat, they refuse to run, but wade
+through the pack, which is unable to keep him from attacking the
+hunter.
+
+As an example of this, he related an instance where he started a
+grizzly with eight or ten Russian bear hounds, and chased the beast
+about thirty miles. As he followed on horseback, he found one after the
+other of his dogs torn to pieces, disemboweled, and dismembered. At
+last, he came upon the bear at bay in deep snow, against a high cliff.
+Only two of his hounds were left, and one of these had a broken leg.
+Mad with vengeance, Frost shot the grizzly. It charged him at forty
+yards. In quick succession he fired five bullets in the oncoming bear,
+seemingly with no effect. Up to his waist in the snow, he was unable to
+avoid its rush. It came on and fell dead on his chest, with the
+faithful hound hanging to it in a desperate effort to save his master.
+
+This is one of the three or four maulings that Ned has received in his
+hunting experiences, which, he says, "have added frost to my golden
+locks." The dog became a cherished pet in the family for many years.
+
+Frost killed his first bear when fourteen years of age, and has added
+nearly five hundred to this number since that time.
+
+It is characteristic of the grizzly that he will charge upon the
+slightest provocation, and that nothing will turn him aside from his
+purpose. Later we found this particularly true where the female with
+cubs is concerned.
+
+Instances of this are too well known to recount, but one coming under
+our own experience was related to me by Tom Murphy, the bear hunter of
+California.
+
+In early days in Humboldt County, there lived an old settler named Pete
+Bluford, who was a squaw man. He shot a female grizzly with cubs within
+a quarter of a mile of what are now the town limits of Blocksburg. The
+beast charged and struck him to the ground. At the same time she ripped
+open the man's abdomen. Bluford dropped under a fallen tree, where the
+bear repeatedly assaulted him, tearing at his body. By rolling back and
+forth as the grizzly leaped over the log to reach him from the other
+side, he escaped further injury. Worried by the hunter's dog, she
+finally ceased her efforts and wandered off. The man was able to reach
+home in spite of a large open wound in his abdomen, with protruding
+intestines. This was roughly sewed together by his friend, Beany
+Powell. He recovered from the experience and lived many years with the
+Indians of that locality. As an example of Western humor, it is related
+that Beany Powell, when sewing up the wound with twine and a sack
+needle, found a large lump of fat protruding from the incision, of
+which he was unable to dispose; so he cut it off, tried out the grease
+in the frying-pan and used it to grease his boots.
+
+Old Bluford became a character in the country. He was, in fact, what is
+colloquially known as "an old poison oaker." This is an individual who
+sinks so low in the scale of civilization that he lives out in the
+backwoods or poison oak brush and becomes animal in type. His hair grew
+to his shoulders, his beard was unkempt, his finger nails were as long
+as claws and filthy with dirt. Rags of unknown antiquity partially
+covered his limbs, vermin infested his body and he stayed with the most
+degraded remnants of the Indians.
+
+One cold winter they found him dead in his dilapidated cabin. He lay on
+the dirt floor, his ragged coat over his face, his hands beneath his
+head, and two house cats lay frozen, one beneath each arm. These old
+pioneers were strange people and died strange deaths.
+
+In our plans to capture grizzlies we took into consideration the
+proclivity of this beast to attack. We knew his speed was tremendous.
+He is able to catch a horse or a dog on the run. Therefore, it is
+useless for a man to try to run away from him. There is no such thing
+as being able to climb a tree if the animal is at close quarters. Adams
+has shown that it is a mistake to attempt it. One only stretches
+himself out inviting evisceration in the effort.
+
+We decided if cornered either to dodge or to lie flat and feign death.
+So we practiced dodging, our running being more for the purpose of
+gaining endurance and to follow the bear if necessary.
+
+Ishi, the Yana Indian, said that grizzlies were to be overcome with
+arrows and if they charged, they were to be met with the spear and
+fire. So we constructed spears having well-tempered blades more than a
+foot in length set upon heavy iron tubing and riveted to strong ash
+handles six feet in length. Back of the blade we fashioned quick
+lighting torches of cotton waste saturated with turpentine. These could
+be ignited by jerking a lanyard fastened to a spring faced with
+sandpaper. The spring rested on the ends of several matches. It was an
+ingenious and reliable device.
+
+The Esquimaux used a long spear in hunting the polar bear. It was ten
+or twelve feet in length. After being shot with an arrow, if the bear
+charged, they rested the butt of the spear on the ground, lowered the
+point and let the bear impale himself on it.
+
+When the time came to use our weapons, Ned Frost dissuaded us from the
+attempt. He said that he once owned a pet grizzly and kept it fast with
+a long chain in the back yard. This bear was so quick that it could lie
+in its kennel, apparently asleep, and if a chicken passed within proper
+distance, with incredible quickness she reached out a paw and seized
+the chicken without the slightest semblance of effort. And when at
+play, the boys tried to stick the bear with a pitchfork, she would
+parry the thrusts and protect herself like a boxer. It was impossible
+to touch her.
+
+The fire, Frost thought, might serve at night, but in the daylight it
+would lose its effect. So he insisted that he would carry a gun to be
+used in case of attack. On our part, we stipulated that he was to
+resort to it only to prevent disaster and protested that such an
+exigency must be looked upon by us as a complete failure of our plans.
+We knew we could not stop the mad rush of a bear with our arrows, but
+we hoped to kill at least one by this means and compromise on the rest
+if necessary.
+
+Indians, besides employing the spear, poisoned arrows, and fire, also
+used protected positions, or shot from horseback. We scorned to shoot
+from a tree and were told that few horses could be ridden close enough,
+or fast enough, to get within bowshot of a grizzly.
+
+Inquiry among those qualified to know, led to the estimate of the
+number of all bears in the Park to be between five hundred and one
+thousand. Considering that there are some three thousand square miles
+of land, that there were nearly sixty thousand elk, besides hundreds of
+bison, antelope, mountain sheep, and similar animals, this does not
+seem improbable. I am aware that recent statements are to the effect
+that there were only forty grizzlies there. This is palpably an
+underestimate, and probably takes into account only those that frequent
+the dumps. Frost believes that there are several hundred grizzlies in
+the Park, many of which range out in the adjacent country. So we felt
+no fear of decimating their ranks, and had every hope of seeing many.
+In fact, their number has so increased in recent years that they have
+become a menace and require killing off.
+
+During the past five years four persons have either been mauled or
+killed by grizzlies in Yellowstone. One of these was a teamster by the
+name of Jack Walsh. He was sleeping under his wagon at Cold Springs
+when a large bear seized him by the arm, dragged him forth and ripped
+open his abdomen. Walsh died of blood poison and peritonitis a few days
+later. Frost himself was attacked. He was conducting a party of
+tourists through the preserve and had just been explaining to them
+around the camp-fire that there was no danger of bears. He slept in the
+tent with a horse wrangler by the name of Phonograph Jones. In the
+middle of the night a huge grizzly entered his tent and stepped on the
+head of Jones, peeling the skin off his face by the rough pressure of
+his paw. The man waked with a yell, whereupon the bear clawed out his
+lower ribs. The cry roused Frost, who having no firearms, hurled his
+pillow at the bear.
+
+With a roar, the grizzly leaped upon Ned, who dived into his sleeping
+bag. The animal grasped him by the thighs, and dragged him from the
+tent out into the forest, sleeping bag and all. As he carried off his
+victim, he shook him from side to side as a dog shakes a rat. Frost
+felt the great teeth settle down on his thigh bones and expected
+momentarily to have them crushed in the powerful jaws. In a thicket of
+jack pines over a hundred yards from camp, the bear shook him so
+violently that the muscles of the man's thighs tore out and he was
+hurled free from the bag. He landed half-naked in the undergrowth
+several yards away.
+
+While the frenzied bear still worried the bedding, Frost dragged
+himself to a near-by pine and pulled himself up in its branches by the
+strength of his arms.
+
+The camp was in an uproar; a huge fire was kindled; tin pans were
+beaten; one of the helpers mounted a horse and by circling around the
+bear, succeeded in driving him away.
+
+After first aid measures were administered, Frost was successfully
+nursed back to health and usefulness by his wife. But since that time
+he has an inveterate hatred of grizzlies, hunting them with grim
+persistency.
+
+It is said that nearly forty obnoxious grizzlies were shot by the Park
+rangers after this episode and Frost was given a permit to carry a
+weapon. We found later that he always went to sleep with a Colt
+automatic pistol strapped to his wrist.
+
+We planned to enter the Park in two parties. One, comprised of Frost,
+the cook, horse wrangler, my brother, and his friend, Judge Henry
+Hulbert, of Detroit, was to proceed from Cody and come with a pack
+train across Sylvan Pass. Our party consisted of Arthur Young and
+myself; Mr. Compton was unexpectedly prevented from joining us by
+sickness in his family. We were to journey by rail to Ashton. This was
+the nearest point to Yellowstone Station on the boundary of the
+reservation that could be reached by railroad in winter.
+
+We arrived at this point near the last of May 1920. The roads beyond
+were blocked with snow, but by good fortune, we were taken in by one of
+the first work trains entering the region through the personal interest
+and courtesy of the superintendent of the Pocatello division.
+
+We had shipped ahead of us a quantity of provisions and came outfitted
+only with sleeping bags, extra clothing, and our archery equipment.
+This latter consisted of two bows apiece and a carrying case containing
+one hundred and forty-four broad-heads, the finest assembly of bows and
+arrows since the battle of Crecy.
+
+Young had one newly made bow weighing eighty-five pounds and his
+well-tried companion of many hunts, Old Grizzly, weighing seventy-five
+pounds.
+
+He later found the heavier weapon too strong for him in the cold
+weather of the mountains, where a man's muscles stiffen and lose their
+power, while his bow grows stronger.
+
+My own bows were seventy-five pounds apiece--"Old Horrible," my
+favorite, a hard hitter and sweet to shoot, and "Bear Slayer," the
+fine-grained, crooked-limbed stave with which I helped to kill our
+first bear. Our arrows were the usual three-eighths birch shafts,
+carefully selected, straight and true. Their heads were tempered steel,
+as sharp as daggers. We had, of course, a few blunts and eagle arrows
+in the lot.
+
+In the Park we found snow deep on the ground and the roads but recently
+cleared with snow plows and caterpillar tractors. We traveled by auto
+to Mammoth Hot Springs and paid our respects to Superintendent
+Albright, and ultimately settled in a vacant ranger's cabin near the
+Canyon. Here we awaited the coming of the second party.
+
+Our entrance into the Park was well known to the rangers, who were
+instructed to give us all the assistance possible. This cabin soon
+became a rendezvous for them and our evenings were spent very
+pleasantly with stories and fireside music.
+
+After several days, word was sent by telephone that Frost and his
+caravan were unable to cross Sylvan Pass because of fifty feet of snow
+in the defile, and that he had returned to Cody where he would take an
+auto truck and come around to the northern entrance to the Park,
+through Gardner, Montana.
+
+At the expiration of three days he drove up to our cabin in a flurry of
+snow. This was about the last day in May.
+
+Frost himself is one of the finest of Western types; born and raised in
+the sage brush country, a hunter of big game ever since he was large
+enough to hold a gun. He was in the prime of life, a man of infinite
+resource, courage, and fortitude. We admired him immensely.
+
+With him he had a full camp outfit, selected after years of experience,
+and suited to any kind of weather.
+
+The party consisted of Art Cunningham, the cook; G.D. Pope, and Judge
+Henry Hulbert. Art came equipped with a vast amount of camp craft and
+cookery wisdom. My brother came to see the fun, the Judge to take
+pictures and add dignity to the occasion. All were seasoned woodsmen
+and hunters.
+
+We moved to more commodious quarters, a log cabin in the vicinity, made
+ourselves comfortable, and let the wind-driven snow pile deep drifts
+about our warm shelter while we planned a campaign against the
+grizzlies.
+
+So far, we had met few bears, and these were of the tourist variety.
+They had stolen bacon from the elevated meat safe, and one we found in
+the woods sitting on his haunches calmly eating the contents of a box
+of soda crackers. These were the hotel pets and were nothing more than
+of passing interest to us.
+
+Contrary to the usual condition, no grizzlies were to be seen. The only
+animals in evidence were a few half-starved elk that had wintered in
+the Park, marmots, and the Canadian jay birds.
+
+We began our hunts on foot, exploring Hayden Valley, the Sour Creek
+region, Mt. Washburn, and the headwaters of Cascade Creek.
+
+The ground was very wet in places and heavy with snow in the woods. It
+was necessary, therefore, to wear rubber pacs, a type of shoe well
+suited to this sort of travel.
+
+Our party divided into two groups, usually my brother and the Judge
+exploring in one direction while Young and I kept close at the heels of
+Frost. We climbed all the high ridges and swept the country with our
+binocular glasses. Prom eight to fourteen hours a day we walked and
+combed the country for bear signs.
+
+Our original plan was to bring in several decrepit old horses with the
+pack train and sacrifice them for bait. But because of the failure of
+this part of our program, we were forced to find dead elk for this
+purpose. We came across a number of old carcasses, but no signs that
+bear had visited them recently. Our first encounter with grizzly came
+on the fourth day. We were scouting over the country near Sulphur
+Mountain, when Frost saw a grizzly a mile off, feeding in a little
+valley. The snow had melted here and he was calmly digging roots in the
+soft ground. We signalled to our party and all drew together as we
+advanced on our first bear, keeping out of sight as we did so.
+
+We planned to go rapidly down a little cut in the hills and intercept
+him as he came around the turn. Progressing at a rapid pace, Indian
+file, we five hunters went down the draw, when suddenly our bear, who
+had taken an unexpected cut-off, came walking up the ravine. At a sign
+from Ned, we dropped to our knees and awaited developments. The bear
+had not seen us and the faint breeze blew from him to us. He was about
+two hundred yards off. We were all in a direct line, Frost ahead, I
+next, Young behind me, and the others in the rear. Our bows were braced
+and arrows nocked.
+
+Slowly the bear came feeding toward us. He dug the roots of white
+violets, he sniffed, he meandered back and forth, wholly unconscious of
+our presence. We hardly breathed. He was not a good specimen, rather a
+scrawny, long-nosed, male adolescent, but a real grizzly and would do
+as a starter.
+
+At last he came within fifty yards, stopped, pawed a patch of snow, and
+still we did not shoot. We could not without changing our position
+because we were all in one line. So we waited for his next move, hoping
+that he would advance laterally and possibly give us a broadside
+exposure.
+
+But he came onward, directly for us, and at thirty yards stopped to
+root in the ground again. I thought, "Now we must shoot or he will walk
+over us!" Just then he lifted his head and seemed to take an eyeful of
+Young's blue shirt. For one second he half reared and stared. I drew my
+bow and as the arrow left the string, he bounded up the hill. The
+flying shaft just grazed his shoulder, parting the fur in its course.
+Quick as a bouncing rubber ball, he leaped over the ground and as
+Young's belated arrow whizzed past him, he disappeared over the hill
+crest.
+
+We rose with a deep breath and shouted with laughter. Ned said that if
+it had not been for that blue shirt, the bear would have bumped into
+us. Well, we were glad we missed him, because after all, he was not the
+one we were looking for. It is a hard thing to pick grizzlies to order.
+You can't go up and inspect them ahead of time.
+
+This fiasco was just an encouragement to us, and we continued to rise
+by candle light and hunt till dark. The weather turned warmer, and the
+snow began to melt.
+
+At the end of the first week we saw five grizzlies way off in the
+distance at the head of Hayden Valley. They were three or four miles
+from us and evening was approaching, so we postponed an attack on them.
+Next morning, bright and early, we were on the ground again, hoping to
+see them. Sure enough, there they were! Ned, Art and I were together;
+my brother and the Judge were off scouting on the other side of the
+ridge. It was about half past eight in the morning. The bears, four in
+number this time, were feeding in the grassy marshland, about three
+miles up the valley. Ned's motto has always been: "When you see 'em, go
+and get 'em."
+
+We decided to attack immediately. Down the river bank, through the
+draws, up into the timber we circled at a trot. It was hard going, but
+we were pressed for time. At last we came out on a wooded point a
+quarter of a mile above the bears, and rested. We knew they were about
+to finish their morning feeding and go up into the forest to lay up for
+the day. So we watched them in seclusion.
+
+We waxed our bowstrings and put the finishing touches on our
+arrow-heads with a file.
+
+Slowly the bears mounted the foothills, heading for a large patch of
+snow, where Frost thought they would lie down to cool before entering
+the woods. It seems that their winter coat makes them very susceptible
+to heat, and though the sun had come out pleasantly for us, it was too
+hot for them. There was an old female and three half-grown cubs in
+their third year, all looking big enough for any museum group.
+
+At last they settled down and began to nuzzle the snow. The time had
+come for action. We proposed to slip down the little ravine at the edge
+of the timber, cross the stream, ascend the hill on the opposite side,
+and come up on our quarry over the crest. We should thus be within
+shooting distance. The wind was right for this maneuver, so we started
+at once.
+
+Now as I write my muscles quiver, my heart thumps and I flush with a
+strange feeling, thinking of that moment. Like a soldier before a
+battle, we waded into an uncharted experience. What does a man think of
+as he is about to enter his first grizzly encounter? I remember well
+what passed through my head: "Can we get there without alarming the
+brutes?" "How close will they be?" "Can we hit them?" "What will happen
+then?"
+
+Ned Frost, Young and I were to sneak up on four healthy grizzlies in
+the open, and pit our nerve against their savage reaction. Ned had his
+rifle, but this was to be used only as a last resort, and that might
+easily fail at such short range.
+
+As we walked rapidly, stepping with utmost caution, I answered all the
+questions of my subconscious fears. "Hit them? Why, we will soak them
+in the gizzard; wreck them!" "Charge? Let them come on and may the best
+man win!" "Die? There never was a fairer, brighter, better day to die
+on." In fact, "Lead on!" I felt absolutely gay. A little profanity or a
+little intellectual detachment at these times is of material help in
+the process of auto-suggestion.
+
+As for Young, he was silent, and possibly was thinking of camp
+flapjacks.
+
+Half way up the hill, on the opposite side of which lay our grizzlies,
+we stopped, braced our bows, took three arrows apiece from our quivers,
+and proceeded in a more stealthy approach.
+
+Young and I arranged ourselves on each side of Frost, abreast with him.
+Near the top Ned took out a green silk handkerchief and floated it in
+the gentle breeze to see if the wind had changed. If it had, we might
+find the bears coming over the top to meet us. Everything was perfect,
+so far! Now, stooping low we crept to the very ridge itself, to a spot
+directly above which we believed the bears to be. Laying our hats on
+the grass and sticking our extra arrows in the ground before us, we
+rose up, bows half drawn, ready to shoot.
+
+There on the snow, not over twenty-five yards off, lay four grizzly
+bears, just like so many hearth rugs.
+
+Instantly, I selected the farthest bear for my mark and at a signal of
+the eye we drew our great bows to their uttermost and loosed two deadly
+arrows.
+
+We struck! There was a roar, they rose, but instead of charging us,
+they rushed together and began such a fight as few men have seen. My
+bear, pinioned with an arrow in the shoulder, threw himself on his
+mother, biting her with savage fury. She in turn bit him in the bloody
+shoulder and snapped my arrow off short. Then all the cubs attacked
+her. The growls and bellowing were terrific.
+
+Quickly I nocked another arrow. The beasts were milling around
+together, pawing, biting, mad with rage. I shot at my bear and missed
+him. I nocked again. The old she-bear reared on her haunches, stood
+high above the circling bunch, cuffing and roaring, the blood running
+from her mouth and nostrils in frothy streams. Young's arrow was deep
+in her chest. I drove a feathered shaft below her foreleg.
+
+The confusion and bellowing increased, and, as I drew a fourth arrow
+from my quiver, I glanced up just in time to see the old female's hair
+rise on the back of her neck. She steadied herself in her wild hurtling
+and looked directly at us with red glaring eyes. She saw us for the
+first time! Instinctively I knew she would charge, and she did.
+
+Quick as thought, she bounded toward us. Two great leaps and she was on
+us. A gun went off at my ear. The bear was literally knocked head over
+heels, and fell in backward somersaults down the steep snowbank. At
+some fifty yards she checked her course, gathered herself, and
+attempted to charge again, but her right foreleg failed her. She rose
+on her haunches in an effort to advance, when, like a flash, two arrows
+flew at her and disappeared through her heaving sides. She faltered,
+wilted, and as we drew to shoot again, she sprawled out on the ground,
+a convulsed, quivering mass of fur and muscle--she was dead.
+
+The half grown cubs had disappeared at the boom of the gun. We saw one
+making off at a gallop, three hundred yards away. The glittering
+snowbank before us was vacant.
+
+The air seemed strangely still; the silence was oppressive. Our nervous
+tension exploded in a wave of laughter and exclamations of wonderment.
+Frost declared he had never seen such a spectacle in all his life; four
+grizzly bears in deadly combat; the din of battle; the wild bellowing;
+and two bowmen shooting arrow after arrow into this jumble of
+struggling beasts.
+
+
+[Illustration: OUR CAMP AT SQUAW LAKE, WYOMING]
+
+
+[Illustration: THE RESULT OF OUR FIRST ENCOUNTER WITH A CHARGING
+GRIZZLY BEAR]
+
+
+[Illustration: BRINGING HOME THE TROPHIES]
+
+
+The snow was trampled and soaked with blood as though there had been an
+Indian massacre. We paced off the distance at which the charging female
+had been stopped. It was exactly eight yards. A mighty handy shot!
+
+We went down to view the remains. Young had three arrows in the old
+bear, one deep in her neck, its point emerging back of the shoulder. He
+shot that as she came at us. His first arrow struck anterior to her
+shoulder, entered her chest, and cut her left lung from top to bottom.
+His third arrow pierced her thorax, through and through, and lay on the
+ground beside her with only its feathers in the wound.
+
+My first arrow cut below the diaphragm, penetrated the stomach and
+liver, severed the gall ducts and portal vein. My second arrow passed
+completely through her abdomen and lay on the ground several yards
+beyond her. It had cut the intestines in a dozen places and opened
+large branches of the mesenteric artery.
+
+The bullet from Frost's gun had entered at the right shoulder,
+fractured the humerus, blown a hole an inch in diameter in the chest
+wall, opened up a jagged hole in the trachea, and dissipated its energy
+in the left lung. No wound of exit was found, the soft nose
+copper-jacketed bullet apparently having gone to pieces after striking
+the bone.
+
+Anatomically speaking, it was an effective shot, knocked the bear down
+and crippled her, but was not an immediately fatal wound. We had her
+killed with arrows, but she did not know it. She undoubtedly would have
+been right on us in another second. The outcome of this hypothetical
+encounter I leave to those with vivid imaginations.
+
+We hereby express our gratitude to Ned Frost.
+
+Now one of us had to rush off and get the rest of the party. Judge
+Hulbert and my brother were in another valley in quest of bear. So Ned
+set off at a rapid tramp across the bogs, streams, and hills to find
+them. Within an hour they returned together to view the wreckage.
+Photographs were taken, the skinning and autopsy were performed. Then
+we looked around for the wounded cub. Frost trailed him by almost
+invisible blood stains and tracks, and found him less than a quarter of
+a mile away, huddled up as if asleep on the hillside, my arrow nestled
+to his breast. The broken shaft with its blade deep in the thorax had
+completely severed the head of his humerus, cut two ribs, and killed
+him by hemorrhage from the pulmonary arteries. Half-grown as he was, he
+would have made an ugly antagonist for any man.
+
+His mother, a fine mature lady of the old school, showed by her teeth
+and other lineaments her age and respectability. In autumn she would
+have weighed four or five hundred pounds. We weighed her in
+installments with our spring scales; she registered three hundred and
+five pounds. She was in poor condition and her pelt was not suitable
+for museum purposes. But these features could not be determined readily
+beforehand. The juvenile Ursus weighed one hundred and thirty-five
+pounds. We measured them, gathered their bones for the museum,
+shouldered their hides, and turned back to camp.
+
+That night Ned Frost said, "Boys, when you proposed shooting grizzly
+bears with the bow and arrow, I thought it a fine sporting proposition,
+but I had my doubts about its success. Now I know that you can shoot
+through and kill the biggest grizzly in Wyoming!"
+
+Our instructions on leaving California were to secure a large male
+_Ursus Horribilis Imperator_, a good representative female, and two or
+three cubs. The female we had shot filled the requirements fairly well,
+but the two-year-old cub was at the high school age and hardly cute
+enough to be admired. Moreover, no sooner had we sent the news of our
+first success to the Museum than we were informed that this size cub
+was not wanted and that we must secure little ones.
+
+So we set out to get some of this year's vintage in small bears.
+Ordinarily, there is no difficulty in coming in contact with bears in
+Yellowstone; in fact, it is more common to try to keep some of the
+hotel variety from eating at the same table with you. But not a single
+bear, black, brown, or silver-tipped, now called upon us. We traveled
+all over that beautiful Park, from Mammoth Hot Springs to the Lake. We
+hunted over every well-known bear district. Tower Falls, Specimen
+Ridge, Buffalo Corrals, Mt. Washburn, Dunraven Pass (under twenty-five
+feet of snow), Antelope Creek, Pelican Meadows, Cub Creek, Steamboat
+Point, and kept the rangers busy on the lookout for bear. From eight to
+fifteen hours a day we hunted. We walked over endless miles of
+mountains, climbed over countless logs, plowed through snow and slush,
+and raked the valleys with our field glasses.
+
+But bears were as scarce as hen's teeth. We saw a few tracks but
+nothing compared to those seen in other years.
+
+We began to have a sneaking idea that the bear had all been killed off.
+We knew they had been a pest to campers and were becoming a menace to
+human life. We suspected the Park authorities of quiet extermination.
+Several of the rangers admitted that a selective killing was carried
+out yearly to rid the preserve of the more dangerous individuals.
+
+Then the elk began to pour back into the Park; singly, in couples, and
+in droves they returned, lean and scraggly. A few began to drop their
+calves. Then we began to see bear signs. The grizzly follow the elk,
+and after they come out of hibernation and get their fill of green
+grass, they naturally take to elk calves. Occasionally they include the
+mother in the menu.
+
+We also began to follow the elk. We watched at bait. We sat up nights
+and days at a time, seeing only a few unfavorable specimens and these
+were as wild and as wary as deer. We found the mosquitoes more deadly
+than the bear. We tracked big worthy old boys around in circles and had
+various frustrated encounters with she-bears and cubs.
+
+Upon one occasion we were tracking a prospective specimen through the
+woods, proceeding with great caution, when evidently the beast heard
+us. Suddenly, he turned on his tracks and came on a dead run for us. I
+was in advance and instantly drew my bow, holding it for the right
+moment to shoot. The bear came directly in our front, not more than
+twenty yards away and being startled by the sight of us, threw his
+locomotive mechanism into reverse and skidded towards us in a cloud of
+snow and forest leaves. In the fraction of a second, I perceived that
+he was afraid and not a proper specimen for our use. I held my arrow
+and the bear with an indignant and disgusted look, made a precipitous
+retreat. It was an unexpected surprise on both sides.
+
+They say that the Indians avoided the Yellowstone region, thinking it a
+land of evil spirits. In our wanderings, however, we picked up on
+Steamboat Point a beautiful red chert arrow-head, undoubtedly shot by
+an Indian at elk years before Columbus burst in upon these good people.
+In Hayden Valley we found an obsidian spear head, another sign that the
+Indian knew good hunting grounds.
+
+But no Indian was ever so anxious to meet grizzly as we were. We hunted
+continually, but found none that suited us; we had to have the best.
+Frost assured us that we had made a mistake in ever trying to get
+grizzlies in the Park--and that in the time we spent there we could
+have secured all our required specimens in the game fields of Wyoming
+or Montana.
+
+A month passed; the bears were beginning to lose their winter coats;
+our party began to disintegrate. My brother and the Judge were
+compelled to return to Detroit. A week or so later Ned Frost and the
+cook were scheduled to take out another party of hunters from Cody and
+prepared to leave us. Young and I were determined to stick it out until
+the last chance was exhausted. We just had to get those specimens.
+
+Before Frost left us, however, he packed us up to the head of Cascade
+Creek with our bows and arrows, bed rolls, a tarpaulin, and a couple of
+boxes of provisions.
+
+We had received word from a ranger that a big old grizzly had been seen
+at Soda Butte and we prepared to go after him. At the last moment
+before departure, a second word came that probably this same bear had
+moved down to Tower Falls and was ranging between this point and the
+Canyon, killing elk around Dunraven Pass.
+
+Young and I scouted over this area and found diggings and his tracks.
+
+A good-sized bear will have a nine-inch track. This monster's was
+eleven inches long. We saw where he made his kills and used certain
+fixed trails going up and down the canyons.
+
+Frost gave us some parting advice and his blessing, consigned us to our
+fate, and went home.
+
+Left to ourselves, we two archers inspected our tackle and put
+everything in prime condition. Our bows had stood the many wettings
+well, but we oiled them again. New strings were put on and thoroughly
+waxed. Our arrows were straightened, their feathers dried and preened
+in the sun. The broad-heads were set on straight and sharpened to the
+last degree, and so prepared we determined to do our utmost. We were
+ready for the big fellow.
+
+In our reconnaissance we found that he was a real killer. His trail was
+marked by many bloody episodes. It seemed quite probable that he was
+the bear that two years before burst in upon a party of surveyors in
+the mountains and kept them treed all night. It is not unlikely that he
+was the same bear that caused the death of Jack Walsh. He seemed too
+expert in planning murder. We saw by his tracks how he lay in ambush
+watching a herd of elk, how he sneaked up on a mother elk and her
+recently born calf on the outskirts of the band, and with a great leap
+threw himself upon the two and killed them.
+
+In several places we saw the skins of these little wapiti licked clean
+and empty of bodily structure. No other male grizzly was permitted to
+enter his domain. He was, in fact, the monarch of the mountain, the
+great bear of Dunraven Pass.
+
+We pitched our little tent in a secluded wood some three miles from the
+lake at the head of Cascade Creek, and began to lay our plan of attack.
+We were by this time inured to fatigue and disappointment. Weariness
+and loss of sleep had produced a dogged determination that knew no
+relaxation. And yet we were cheerful. Young has that fine quality so
+essential to a hunting companion, imperturbable good nature, never
+complaining, no matter how heavy the load, how long the trail, how late
+or how early the hour, how cold, how hot, how little, or how poor the
+food.
+
+We were there to win and nothing else mattered. If it rained and we
+must wait, we took out our musical instruments, built up the fire and
+soothed our troubled souls with harmony. This is better than tobacco or
+whiskey for the purpose. In fact, Young is so abstemious that even tea
+or coffee seem a bit intemperate to him, and are only to be used under
+great physical strain; and as for profanity, why, I had to do all the
+swearing for the two of us.
+
+We were trained down to rawhide and sinew, keyed to alertness and ready
+for any emergency.
+
+Often in our wanderings at night we ran unexpectedly upon wild beasts
+in the dark. Some of these were bears. Our pocket flashlights were used
+as defensive weapons. A snort, a crashing retreat through the brush
+told us that our visitant had departed in haste, unable to stand the
+glaring light of modern science.
+
+We soon found that our big fellow was a night rover also, and visited
+his various kills under the cloak of darkness. In one particularly
+steep and rugged canyon, he crossed a little creek at a set place. Up
+on the side of this canyon he mounted to the plateau above by one of
+three possible trails. At the top within forty yards of one of these
+was a small promontory of rock upon which we decided to form a blind
+and await his coming. We fashioned a shelter of young jack pines,
+constructed like a miniature corral, less than three by six feet in
+area, but very natural in appearance. Between us and the trail was a
+quantity of down timber which we hoped would act as an impediment to an
+onrushing bear. And the perpendicular face of our outcropping elevated
+us some twelve or thirteen feet above the steep hillside. A small tree
+stood near our position and offered a possibility in case of attack.
+But we had long ago decided that no man can clamber up a tree in time
+to escape a grizzly charging at a distance less than fifty yards. We
+could be approached from the rear, but altogether it was an ideal
+ambush.
+
+The wind blew steadily up the canyon all night long and carried our
+scent away from the trail. Above us on the plateau was a recently
+killed elk which acted as a perpetual invitation to bears and other
+prowlers of the night.
+
+So we started watching in this blind, coming soon after dusk and
+remaining until sunrise. The nights were cold, the ground pitiless, and
+the moon, nearly at its full, crept low through a maze of mist.
+
+Dressed in our warmest clothing and permitting ourselves one blanket
+and a small piece of canvas, we huddled together in a cramped posture
+and kept vigil through the long hours. Neither of us smoked anyway, and
+of course, this was absolutely taboo; we hardly whispered, and even
+shifted our positions with utmost caution. Before us lay our bows ready
+strung, and arrows, both in the quiver belted upright to the screen and
+standing free close at hand.
+
+The first evening we saw an old she-bear and her two-year-old cubs come
+up the path. They passed us with that soft shuffling gait so uncanny to
+hear in the dark. We were delighted that they showed no sign of having
+detected us. But they were not suited to our purpose and we let them
+go. The female was homely, fretful and nervous. The cubs were yellow
+and ungainly. We looked for better things.
+
+Bears have personality, as obvious as humans. Some are lazy, some
+alert, surly, or timid. Nearly all the females we saw showed that
+irritability and irascible disposition that go with the cares of
+maternity. This family was decidedly commonplace.
+
+They disappeared in the gloom, and we waited and waited for the big
+fellow that some time must appear.
+
+But morning came first; we stole from our blind, chilled and stiffened,
+and wandered back to camp to breakfast and sleep. The former was a
+fairly successful event, but the latter was made almost impossible by
+the swarms of mosquitoes that beset us. A smudge fire and canvas head-
+coverings gave us only a partial immunity. By sundown we were on our
+way again to the blind, but another cold dreary night passed without
+adventure.
+
+On our way to camp in the dim light of early dawn, a land fog hung low
+in the valley. As we came up a rough path there suddenly appeared out
+of the obscurity three little bear cubs, not thirty-five yards away.
+They winded us, squeaked and stood on their hind legs, peering in our
+direction. We dropped like stones in our tracks, scarcely breathing,
+figuratively frozen to the ground, for instantly the fiercest-looking
+grizzly we ever saw bounded over the cubs and straddled them between
+her forelegs. Nothing could stop her if she came on. A little brush
+intervened and she could not locate us plainly for we could see her
+eyes wander in search of us; but her trembling muscles, the vicious
+champing of her jaws, and the guttural growls, all spoke of immediate
+attack. We were petrified. She wavered in her intent, turned, cuffed
+her cubs down the hill, snorted and finally departed with her family.
+
+We heaved a deep sigh of relief. But she was wonderful, she was the
+most beautiful bear we had ever seen; large, well proportioned, with
+dark brown hair having just a touch of silver. She was a patrician, the
+aristocrat of the species. We marked her well.
+
+Next day, just at sunset, we got our first view of the great bear of
+Dunraven Pass. He was coming down a distant canyon trail. He looked
+like a giant in the twilight. With long swinging strides he threw
+himself impetuously down the mountainside. Great power was in every
+movement. He was magnificent! He seemed as large as a horse, and had
+that grand supple strength given to no other predatory animal
+
+Though we were used to bears, a strange misgiving came over me. We
+proposed to slay this monster with the bow and arrow. It seemed
+preposterous!
+
+In the blind another long cold night passed. The moon drifted slowly
+across the heavens and sank in a haze of clouds at daybreak. Just at
+the hush of dawn, the homely female and her tow-headed progeny came
+shuffling by. We were desperate for specimens, and one of these would
+match that which we already had. I drew up my bow and let fly a broad-
+head at one of the cubs. It struck him in the ribs. Precipitately, the
+whole band took flight. My quarry fell against an obstructing log and
+died. His mother stopped, came back several times, gazed at him
+pensively, then disappeared. We got out, carried him to a distant spot
+and skinned him. He weighed one hundred and twenty pounds. My arrow had
+shaved a piece off his heart. Death was instantaneous.
+
+We packed home the hind quarters and made a fine grizzly stew. Before
+this we had found that the old bears were tough and rancid, but the
+little ones were as sweet and tender as suckling pigs. This stew was
+particularly good, well seasoned with canned tomatoes and the last of
+our potatoes and onions. Sad to relate the better part of this savory
+pot next day was eaten by a wandering vagabond of the _Ursus_ family.
+Not content with our stew, he devoured all our sugar, bacon, and other
+foodstuffs not in cans, and wound up his debauch by wiping his feet on
+our beds and generally messing up the camp. Probably he was a regular
+camp thief.
+
+That night, early in the watch, we heard the worthy old boy come down
+the canyon, hot in pursuit of a large brown bear. As he ran, the great
+animal made quite a noise. His claws clattered on the rocks, and the
+ground seemed to shake beneath us. We shifted our bows ready for
+action, and felt the keen edge of our arrows. Way off in the forest we
+heard him tree the cowardly intruder with such growls and ripping of
+bark that one would imagine he was about to tear the tree down.
+
+After a long time he desisted and, grunting and wheezing, came slowly
+up the canyon. With the night glasses we could see him. He seemed to be
+considerably heated with his exercise and scratched himself against a
+young fir tree. As he stood on his hind legs with his back to the trunk
+and rubbed himself to and fro, the tree swayed like a reed; and as he
+lifted his nose I observed that it just touched one of the lower
+branches. In the morning, after he had gone and we were on our way to
+camp, we passed this very fir and stretching up on my tip toes, I could
+just touch the limb with my fingers. Having been a pole vaulter in my
+youth, I knew by experience that this measurement was over seven feet
+six inches. He was a real he-bear! We wanted him more than ever.
+
+The following day it rained--in fact, it rained nearly every day near
+the end of our stay; but this was a drenching that stopped at sunset,
+leaving all the world sweet and fragrant. The moon came out full and
+beautiful, everything seemed propitious.
+
+We went to the blind about an hour before midnight, feeling that surely
+this evening the big fellow would come. After two hours of frigidity
+and immobility, we heard the velvet footfalls of bear coming up the
+canyon. There came our patrician and her royal family. The little
+fellows pattered up the trail before their mother. They came within
+range. I signalled Young and we shot together at the cubs. We struck.
+There was a squeak, a roar, a jumble of shadowy figures and the entire
+flock of bears came tumbling in our direction.
+
+At that very moment the big grizzly appeared on the scene. There were
+five bears in sight. Turning her head from side to side, trying to find
+her enemy, the she-bear came towards us. I whispered to Young, "Shoot
+the big fellow." At the same time, I drew an arrow to the head, and
+drove it at the oncoming female. It struck her full in the chest. She
+reared; threw herself sidewise, bellowed with rage, staggered and fell
+to the ground. She rose again, weakened, stumbled forward, and with
+great gasps she died. In less than half a minute it was all over. The
+little ones ran up the hill past us, one later returned and sat up at
+its mother's head, then disappeared in the dark forever.
+
+While all this transpired, the monster grizzly was romping back and
+forth in the shaded forest not more than sixty-five yards away. With
+deep booming growls like distant thunder, he voiced his anger and
+intent to kill. As he flitted between the shadows of the trees, the
+moonlight glinted on his massive body; he was enormous.
+
+Young discharged three arrows at him. I shot two. We should have
+landed, he was so large. But he galloped off and I saw my last arrow at
+the point blank range of seventy-five yards, fall between his legs. He
+was gone. We thought we had missed the beast and grief descended heavy
+upon us. The thought of all the weary days and nights of hunting and
+waiting, and now to have lost him, was very painful.
+
+After our palpitating hearts were quiet and the world seemed peaceful,
+we got out of our blind and skinned the female by flashlight. She was a
+magnificent specimen, just right in color and size for the Museum, not
+fat, but weighing a trifle over five hundred pounds. My arrow had
+severed a rib and buried its head in her heart. We measured her and
+saved her skull and long bones for the taxidermist.
+
+At daybreak we searched for the cubs and found one dead under a log
+with an arrow through his brain. The others had disappeared.
+
+We had no idea that we hit the great bear, but just to gather up our
+shafts, we went over the ground where he had been.
+
+One of Young's arrows was missing!
+
+That gave us a thrill; perhaps we had hit him after all! We went
+further in the direction he had gone; there was a trace of blood.
+
+We trailed him. We knew it was dangerous business. Through clumps of
+jack pines we cautiously followed, peering under every pile of brush
+and fallen tree. Deep into the forest we tracked him, where his bloody
+smear was left upon fallen logs. Soon we found where he had rested.
+Then we discovered the fore part of Young's arrow. It had gone through
+him. There was a pool of blood. Then we found the feathered butt which
+he had drawn out with his teeth.
+
+Four times he wallowed down in the mud or soft earth to rest and cool
+his wound. Then beneath a great fir he had made a bed in the soft loam
+and left it. Past this we could not track him. We hunted high and low,
+but no trace of him could we find. Apparently he had ceased bleeding
+and his footprints were not recorded on the stony ground about. We made
+wide circles, hoping to pick up his trail. We searched up and down the
+creek. We cross-cut every forest path and runway, but no vestige
+remained.
+
+
+
+[Illustration: LOOKING FOR GRIZZLIES ON CUB CREEK]
+
+
+[Illustration: THE TREE THAT NED FROST CLIMBED TO ESCAPE DEATH]
+
+
+[Illustration: MY FEMALE GRIZZLY AND THE ARROW THAT KILLED HER]
+
+
+[Illustration: ARTHUR YOUNG SLAYS THE MONARCH OF THE MOUNTAINS]
+
+
+He was gone. We even looked up in the tree and down in the ground where
+he had wallowed. For five hours we searched in vain, and at last, worn
+with disappointment and fatigue, we lay down and slept on the very spot
+where he last stopped.
+
+Near sundown we awoke, ate a little food, and started all over again to
+find the great bear. We retraced our steps and followed the fading
+evidence till it brought us again to the pit beneath the fir tree. He
+must be near. It was absolutely impossible for any animal to have lost
+so much blood and travel more than a few hundred yards past this spot.
+We had explored the creek bottom and the cliffs above from below, and
+we now determined to traverse every foot of the rim of the canyon from
+above. As we climbed over the face of the rock we saw a clot of dried
+blood. We let ourselves down the sheer descent, came upon a narrow
+little ledge, and there below us lay the huge monster on his back,
+against a boulder, cold and stiff, as dead as Cesar. Our hearts nearly
+burst with happiness.
+
+There lay the largest grizzly bear in Wyoming, dead at our feet. His
+rugged coat was matted with blood. Well back in his chest the arrow
+wound showed clear. I measured him; twenty-six inches of bear had been
+pierced through and through. One arrow killed him. He was tremendous.
+His great wide head; his worn, glistening teeth; his massive arms; his
+vast, ponderous feet and long curved claws; all were there. He was a
+wonderful beast. It seemed incredible. I thumped Young on the shoulder:
+"My, that was a marvelous shot!"
+
+We started to skin our quarry. It was a stupendous job, as he weighed
+nearly one thousand pounds, and lay on the steep canyon side ready to
+roll on and crush us. But with ropes we lashed him by the neck to a
+tree and split him up the back, later box-skinning the legs according
+to the method required by the museum.
+
+By flashlight, acetylene lamp, candle light, fire light and moonlight,
+we labored. We used up all our knives, and having neglected to bring
+our whet-stones, sharpened our blades on the volcanic boulders, about
+us. By assiduous industry for nine straight hours, we finished him
+after a fashion. His skin was thick and like scar tissue. His meat was
+all tendons and gristle. The hide was as tight as if glued on.
+
+In the middle of the night we stopped long enough to broil some grizzly
+cub steaks and brew a pot of tea; then we went at it again.
+
+As we dismembered him we weighed the parts. The veins were absolutely
+dry of blood, and without this substance, which represents a loss of
+nearly 10 per cent of his weight, he was nine hundred and sixteen
+pounds. There was hardly an inch of fat on his back. At the end of the
+autumn this adipose layer would be nearly six inches thick. He would
+then have weighed over fourteen hundred pounds. He stood nearly four
+feet high at the shoulders, while his skull measured eighteen and a
+half inches long; his entire body length was seven feet four inches.
+
+As we cleaned his bones we hurled great slabs of muscle down the
+canyon, knowing from experience that this would be a sign for all other
+bears to leave the vicinity. Only the wolves and jays will eat grizzly
+meat.
+
+At last we finished him, as the sun rose over the mountain ridges and
+gilded all the canyon with glory. We cleaned and salted the pelts,
+packed them on our backs, and, dripping with salt brine and bear
+grease, staggered to the nearest wagon trail. The hide of the big bear,
+with unskinned paws and skull, weighed nearly one hundred and fifty
+pounds.
+
+We cached our trophies, tramped the weary miles back to camp, cleaned
+up, packed and wandered to the nearest station, from which we ordered a
+machine. When this arrived we gathered our belongings, turned our
+various specimens over to a park ranger, to be given the final
+treatments, and started on our homeward trip.
+
+We were so exhausted from loss of sleep, exertion and excitement, that
+we sank into a stupor that lasted almost the entire way home.
+
+The California Academy of Sciences now has a handsome representative
+group of _Ursus Horribilis Imperator_. We have the extremely
+satisfactory feeling that we killed five of the finest grizzly bear in
+Wyoming. The sport was fair and clean, and we did it all with the bow
+and arrow.
+
+
+
+
+XV
+
+
+ALASKAN ADVENTURES
+
+
+It seems as if Fate had chosen my hunting companion, Arthur Young, to
+add to the honor and the legends of the bow. At any rate it fell to his
+lot to make two trips to Alaska between the years 1922 and 1925.
+
+He and his friend, Jack Robertson, were financed in a project to
+collect moving-picture scenes of the Northland.
+
+They were instructed to show the country in all its seasonal phases, to
+depict the rivers, forests, glaciers and mountains, particularly to
+record the summer beauties of Alaska. The animal life was to be
+featured in full:--fish, birds, small game, caribou, mountain sheep,
+moose and bear, all were to be captured on the celluloid film, and with
+all this a certain amount of hunting with the bow was to be included
+and the whole woven into a little story of adventure.
+
+Equipped with cameras, camp outfit and archery tackle, they sailed for
+Seward. From here they ventured into the wilderness as circumstances
+directed. Sometimes they went by boat to Kadiac Island, sometimes to
+the Kenai Peninsula, or they journeyed by dog sleds and packs inland.
+They spent the better part of two years in this hard, exacting work,
+often carrying as much as a hundred pounds on their backs for many
+miles. Great credit must be given to Art's partner Jack Robertson, for
+his energy, bravery and fortitude. His work with the camera will make
+history, but for the time being we shall focus our attention on the man
+with the bow. Only a small portion of Young's time was devoted to
+hunting, the exigencies incidental to travel and gathering animal
+pictures were such that archery was of secondary importance.
+
+He hunted and shot ptarmigan, some on the wing; he added grouse and
+rabbit meat to the scant larder of their "go light" outfit. He shot
+graylings and salmon in the streams. He could easily have killed
+caribou because they operated close to vast herds of these foolish
+beasts. However, at the time it seemed that there was no hurry about
+the matter; they had meat in camp, and pictures were of greater
+interest just then. They expected to see plenty of these animals.
+Strangely enough the herd suddenly left the country and no further
+opportunity presented itself for shooting them. This was no great
+disappointment because the sport was too easy. What did seem worth
+while was the killing of the great Alaskan moose. These beasts are the
+largest game animal on this continent, with the exception of the almost
+extinct bison.
+
+Young had his first chance at moose while on the Kenai Peninsula. Here
+the boys were camped and having finished his camera work Art took a day
+off to hunt.
+
+In the afternoon he discovered a large old bull lying down in a
+burnt-over area, where approach by stealth was possible, so he began
+his stalk with utmost caution, paying particular attention to scent and
+sound. By crawling on his hands and knees he came within a hundred and
+fifty yards, when his progress was stopped by a fallen tree. To go
+around it, would expose him to vision; to climb over, would alarm the
+animal by snapping twigs; so Young decided to dig under. He worked with
+his hunting knife and hands for one hour to accomplish this operation.
+When he had passed this obstacle he continued his crawling till he
+reached a distance of sixty yards. At this stage Art called the old
+bull with a birch bark horn, then the moose heard him and stood up. The
+brush was so thick that he could not shoot immediately, but waited as
+the old bull circled to catch his wind and answered the challenge. When
+he presented a fair target at seventy yards or so, Art drove an arrow
+at him. It struck deep in the flank, up to the feather ranging forward.
+The bull was only startled a trifle and trotted off a hundred yards.
+Here he stopped to look and listen. Young drew his bow again, and
+overshooting his mark, his arrow struck one of the broad thick palms of
+the antlers. The point pierced the two inches of bone and wedged tight,
+making a sharp report as it hit. This started the animal off at a fast
+trot. Young followed slowly at some distance and soon had the
+satisfaction of seeing the moose waver in his course and lie down.
+After a reasonable wait the hunter advanced to his quarry and found him
+dead. The triumph of such an episode is more or less mixed with misery.
+The pleasure undoubtedly would have been greater had some other lusty
+bow man been with him, but as it was he had to feast his eyes alone,
+moreover he had to make his way back to camp, which was some eight
+miles off, and night rapidly coming on.
+
+
+[Illustration: BULL MOOSE BAGGED ON THE KENAI PENINSULA]
+
+
+This part of the story was just as thrilling to Art, because he must
+stumble through the rough land of "little sticks" in the dark with the
+constant apprehension of meeting some unwelcome Alaska brown bear,
+which were thick there, and also the extremely unpleasant experience of
+running into dead trees, tripping over fallen limbs and dropping into
+gullies. He reached camp ultimately, I believe. Next day he returned
+with his companion for meat, his antler trophy and the picture, which
+we present.
+
+This bull weighed approximately sixteen hundred pounds and had a spread
+of sixty inches across its antlers.
+
+Upon the second expedition a year later, Young bagged another moose.
+Here the arrow penetrated both sides of the chest and caused almost
+instant death, showing that size is not a hindrance to a quick exodus.
+
+It is surprising even to us to see the extreme facility with which an
+arrow can interrupt the essential physiological processes of life and
+destroy it. We have come to the belief that no beast is too tough or
+too large to be slain by an arrow. With especially constructed heads
+sharpened to the utmost nicety, I have shot through a double thickness
+of elephant hide, two inches of cardboard, a bag of shaving and gone
+into an inch of wood. We feel sure that having penetrated the hide of a
+pachyderm his ribs can easily be severed and the heart or pulmonary
+cavity entered. Any considerable incision of either of these vital
+areas must soon cause death. And this is a field experiment which we
+propose to try in the near future.
+
+There is a legitimate excuse for shooting animals such as moose, where
+food is a problem and the bow bears an honorable part in the episode.
+We feel moreover that by using the bow on this large game we are
+playing ultimately for game preservation. For by shaming the "mighty
+hunter" and his unfair methods in the use of powerful destructive
+agents, we feel that we help to develop better sporting ethics.
+
+It was partly on this account, and partly to answer the dare of those
+who have said, "You may hunt the tame bears of California and Wyoming,
+but you cannot fool with the big Kadiac bears of Alaska with your
+little bow and arrow," that Young determined to go after these monsters
+and see if they were as fierce and invulnerable as claimed. At the
+present writing we who shoot the bow have slain more than a dozen bears
+with our shafts, but the mighty Kadiac brown grizzly has laughed at us
+from his frozen lair--as the literary nature fakir might say--we have
+been told that all that is necessary if you wish to meet a brownie, is
+to give him your address in Alaska and he will look you up. Also we
+have been told that once insulted he will tear a house down to "get
+even with you,"--so I shook Art's hand good-bye, when he started on
+this Kadiac escapade, and told him to "give 'em hell."
+
+After a long time he came back to San Francisco, and this is the story
+he told me--and Art has no guile in his system but is as straight as a
+bowstring.
+
+"We made a false start in going after our bears. We took a boat from
+Seward and sailed to Seldie, then to Kenai Peninsula. Here we hunted
+for two solid weeks and found practically no signs of brownies.
+
+"I decided at the end of this period to waste no more time, but to pull
+out of the country and sail back to Seward. We had but a short time to
+complete our picture before the last boat left the Arctic waters, but
+hearing of good bear signs on Kadiac Island we hit out for this place
+and landed in Uganik Bay. Here in the Long Arm, we found a country with
+many streams flowing down from the mountains which constitute this
+Island, and much small timber in combination with open grassy glades. A
+type of country that is particularly suited for photographic work and
+bow hunting.
+
+"After several days' exploring we discovered that the bears were
+catching salmon in the streams and we were successful in photographing
+as many as seven grizzlies at once. We took pictures of the bears
+wading in the water looking for fish. Usually the bear slaps the salmon
+out of the stream, then goes up on the bank and eats it. The "humpies"
+were so plentiful here, however, that they were tossed out on the bank,
+but not eaten, the bear preferring to capture one while in the water
+then wade about on his hind legs while he held the fish in his arms and
+devoured it.
+
+"We got all this and many comic antics of young bears climbing trees
+and playing about by using a telephoto lens. After the camera man was
+satisfied I proposed that we 'pull off' a 'stunt' with the bow.
+
+"By good fortune we saw four bears coming down the mountain side to
+fish. They were making their way slowly through an open valley. The
+camera was stationed at a commanding point and I ran up a dry wash
+thickly grown with willow and alder to head off the bears. I was able
+to get within a hundred yards by use of the willow cover, then the
+brush became too thin to hide me, so I walked boldly out into the open
+to meet the bears. I practically invited them to charge since they were
+reputed to be so easily insulted. At first they paid little attention
+to me, then the two in advance sat up on their haunches in astonishment
+and curiosity. I approached to a distance of fifty yards, then the
+largest brownie began champing his jaws and growling; then he 'pinned
+back his ears' preparing to come at me. Just as he was about to lunge
+forward I shot him in the chest. The arrow went deep and stuck out a
+foot beyond his shoulder. He dropped on all fours and before he could
+make up his mind what hit him, I shot him again in the flank. This
+turned him and feeling himself badly wounded he wheeled about and ran.
+While this was going on an old female also stood in a menacing
+attitude, but as the wounded bear galloped past her, she came to the
+ground and ran diagonally from us. All of them followed suit, and as
+they swept out of the field of vision the wounded bear weakened and
+fell less than a hundred yards from the camera.
+
+"True to his standards the camera man continued to grind out the film
+to the very last, so the whole picture is complete. You will see it
+some day for yourself and it will answer all doubts about the
+invulnerable status of the Kadiac bears."
+
+Young himself was not particularly elated over this conquest. He knew
+long ago that the Kadiac bear was no more formidable than the grizzlies
+we had slain and he only undertook this adventure for show purposes.
+Moreover though he used his heavy osage orange bow and usual
+broad-heads, he declares that he believes he can kill the largest bear
+in Alaska with a fifty pound weapon and proportionately adjusted
+arrows. Both Young and I are convinced of the necessity of very sharp
+broad-heads, and trust more to a keen blade and a quick flight than to
+power.
+
+
+[Illustration: THE GREAT KADIAK BEAR BROUGHT LOW]
+
+
+During his Alaskan travels Art preferred his Osage bows to the yew.
+They stood being dragged over rocks and falling down mountain sides
+better than the softer yew wood. His three bows were under five feet
+six inches in length, short for convenience and each pulled over
+eighty-five pounds. The country in which he worked was so rocky that it
+was most disastrous on arrows, and every shot that missed meant a
+shattered shaft.
+
+Possibly his roughest trip was one taken to picture mountain goats.
+Here a funny incident occurred. Jack and Art were stalking a herd of
+these wary creatures with the camera when suddenly around a point of
+rock the whole band of goats appeared. Art was ahead and had only just
+time enough to duck down on his hands and knees and hide his face close
+to the ground. He stayed so still that the entire flock passed close by
+him almost touching his body, while the camera man did his work from a
+concealed ledge higher up. Though Young counts it little to his credit,
+he shot one of these male goats, which was poised on so precipitous a
+point that it fell over and over down the mountain side and was lost as
+a trophy and as camp meat. Humiliating as such an episode may be, it
+serves, however, to add a coup to the archer's count. And there we let
+the matter rest.
+
+But what is of greater interest is his outwitting a Rocky Mountain Big
+Horn. This animal is considered the greatest game trophy in America. It
+is an extremely alert sheep, all eyes and wisdom. If you expose
+yourself but a second, though you be a mile away from the ram, probably
+you will be seen. And though the sheep may not move while you look at
+him, he is gone when you have completed your toilsome climb and peer
+over the last ledge of rock preparatory to shooting. Ned Frost used to
+say that when he hunted Big Horns he paid no attention to hearing or
+smell, but he was so careful about sight, that when he raised his head
+cautiously over a ridge to observe the sheep, he always lifted a stone
+and peered underneath it, or picked up a bunch of grass and gazed
+through it.
+
+Most hunters are content to stalk this game within three or four
+hundred yards, then aim at it with telescopic sights. It is the last
+word in good hunting.
+
+Stewart Edward White, the author and big game hunter, has said that the
+following experience is one of the finest demonstrations of stalking
+and understanding of animal psychology he knows.
+
+Up near the head of Wood River, Young and his party came on a number of
+Big Horn Sheep and first devoted several days to film work. Then Young
+decided to try for a trophy with the bow. After hunting all morning he
+discovered with his glasses a ram a long way off.
+
+The country was open and had no cover. The ram was resting on a ledge
+of rock elevated above the level of the valley. Even at a distance of
+half a mile it was evident to Art that the ram had seen him, so Young
+studied the sheep and the country carefully before deciding what plan
+to pursue.
+
+From the lay of the land it was plain that no concealment was possible
+and no detour or ambush could be employed. The glasses showed that the
+ram was a fairly old specimen and had a very sophisticated look. In
+fact, to Art he looked conceited and had an expression that said:
+"There is a man, but I am a pretty wise old sheep; I know all about
+men; that fellow hasn't seen me yet and when he does, there is plenty
+of open country back of me; my best plan is to lie still and let this
+tenderfoot pass." So he went on ruminating and blinking at the sun.
+
+Taking this mental attitude into consideration, Young decided that the
+best method of outwitting this particular sheep was to take him at his
+own valuation and proceed as a tenderfoot down the valley. So he walked
+unconcernedly along at an oblique angle to the sheep and never once
+taking a direct look at him. He went gaily along whistling, kicking
+pebbles and swinging his bow. When he had reached a distance of two or
+three hundred yards the old sheep lifted up his head to see what was
+going on. Young paid no attention to him, though he observed him out of
+the corner of his eyes. So the wise old boy settled back content with
+his diagnosis.
+
+Art walked along as innocently as ever. When he was a hundred and fifty
+yards off, the ram raised his head again and took a longer observation.
+He seemed to be changing his mind. Young said to himself, "He will take
+one more look, then he will go. Now is the time to act." So nocking an
+arrow on the string he ran at full speed directly at the sheep, and
+when half way he saw the tip of his horns rise above the ledge and knew
+it was time to stop. He came to his shooting pose and waited, the arrow
+half drawn. Sure enough! Out walked the old fellow to the very edge of
+the parapet and gazed over. Off flew the arrow and in the twilight it
+was lost to vision, but he heard it strike and saw the ram wheel in
+flight. As it disappeared over the ridge Art followed at a run;
+reaching the top he peered cautiously about and saw the sheep at no
+great distance standing still with its legs spread wide apart. He knew
+by the posture that it was done for. So he went back to the valley and
+because of the distance from camp and the oncoming darkness he made a
+fire and "Siwashed it" or camped out in the open all night without
+blankets. In the morning he went after his trophy and found it near the
+spot last seen. It was a fine specimen. The arrow had pierced it from
+front to rear completely through and was lost; a center shot at eighty
+yards; a most remarkable bit of archery and hunting stratagem. This
+head now decorates the dining room of the Young home in San Francisco.
+Unfortunately the moose antlers were cached near a river in Alaska and
+an unprecedented flood carried them out to sea.
+
+While speaking of Alaskan rivers there recurs to my mind a most
+remarkable incident related by Young. In one picture required for their
+film it was necessary to show a canoe in the course of construction,
+the subsequent use of this vessel and an upset in the turbulent waters
+of the river. To represent his bow in its canvas case, and still to
+spare that weapon a wetting, Young went down the river bank to pick out
+a stick about the same size to put in his bow case. Taking the first
+piece that came to hand he started to place it in the case, when struck
+by its smoothness he looked at it and found he had a weatherbeaten old
+Indian bow in his hand. It seemed like a sign, a good omen,--for we
+playfully indulge in omens in these romantic adventures with the bow.
+
+
+[Illustration: ARTHUR YOUNG OUTWITS THE ALASKA BIGHORN]
+
+
+Studying this implement later I found it apparently to be a birch Urock
+bow, some five feet long, having nocks and a place for the usual
+perpendicular piece of wood bound on at the handle to check the string.
+It would have pulled about sixty pounds, good enough for caribou
+hunting.
+
+And so in brief are the adventures of Art Young in Alaska.
+
+But who can speak of the adventures in the heart of our archer? Here is
+no common hunter, no insensate slayer of animals. Here we have the poet
+afoot,--the archaic adventurer in modern game fields; the champion of
+fair play and clean sport; all that is strong and manly.
+
+I take off my hat to Arthur Young.
+
+
+
+
+A CHAPTER OF ENCOURAGEMENT
+
+BY
+
+STEWART EDWARD WHITE
+
+
+No one can read Dr. Pope's book without an appreciation of the romance
+and charm of the long bow and the broad-head arrow. And no one can
+doubt that the little group of which he writes has proved that the
+thing can be done. Its members have brought to bag quantities of small
+game, unnumbered deer, mountain goat, big horn sheep, moose, caribou,
+thirteen black bears, six grizzlies, and one monster Kadiak bear. That
+point it proved beyond doubt. But, each will ask; how about it for me?
+These men are experts. It all looks very fascinating; but what chance
+have I?
+
+That, I believe, is the first reaction of the average man after he has
+savored the real literary charm of this book and begins to consider the
+practical side of the question. It was my own reaction. Fortunately, I
+live within commuting distance of Dr. Pope, so I have been able to
+resolve my doubts--slowly. My purpose is here to summarize what I found
+out.
+
+In the first place, the utter beginner has in his hands a weapon that
+is adequate and humane. A bad rifle shot or a bad shotgun shot can and
+does "slobber" his game by hitting it in the wrong places or with the
+outer fringe of his pattern. But if an arrow can be landed anywhere in
+the body it is certain and prompt death. This is not only true of the
+chest cavity, but of the belly; and every rifleman knows that a bullet
+in the latter is ineffective and cruel, and a beast so wounded is
+capable of long distances before it dies. The arrow's deadliness
+depends not on its shocking power, which of course is low, but upon
+internal hemorrhage and the very peculiar fact that the admission of
+air in quantity into any part of the body cavity collapses the lungs.
+Furthermore, again unlike the bullet, the broad arrow seems to be as
+effective at the limit of its longest flight as at the nearer ranges.
+So the amateur bowman, suitably armed, may lay this much of comfort to
+his soul: if by the grace of Robin Hood and the little capricious gods
+of luck he does manage to stray a shaft into a beast, it is going to do
+the trick for him. And of course if he keeps on shooting arrows in the
+general direction of game, the doctrine of chances will land him sooner
+or later!
+
+In the meantime--and here is the second point--he is going to have an
+enormous amount of enjoyment from his "close misses." With firearms a
+miss is a miss, and catastrophic. You have failed, and that is all
+there is to it; and you have no earthly means of knowing whether your
+miss was by the scant quarter inch that fairly ruffled the beast's
+crest, or by the disgraceful yards of buck ague or the jerking
+forefinger or the blinking dodging eye. But the beautiful clean flight
+of the arrow can be followed. And when it passes between the neck and
+the bend of wing of wild goose; or it buries its head in the damp earth
+only just below the body line of the unstartled deer, the bowman
+experiences quite as keen a thrill of satisfaction as follows a good
+center with gun or rifle,--even though the game is as scathless as
+though he had missed it by miles. In this type of hunting a miss is
+emphatically _not_ as good as a mile! And the chances are he can try
+again, and yet again, provided nothing else has occurred to affright
+his quarry. To most animals the flight of an arrow is little more than
+the winging past of some strange swift bird.
+
+Thus the joy is not primarily in the size of the bag, nor even in the
+certainty of the bag, but in the woodcraft and the outguessing, and the
+world of little things one must notice to get near enough for his shot,
+and the birds and the breezes and the small matters along the way;
+which is as it should be: and the satisfaction is not wholly centered
+in merely a shot well placed and a trophy quickly come by. Indeed, the
+latter is become almost an incidental; a very welcome and inspiriting
+incidental; a wonderful culmination; but a culmination that is
+necessary only occasionally as a guerdon of emprise rather than an
+invariably indispensability, lacking which the whole expedition must be
+classed as a failure.
+
+At first the seasoned marksman will doubt this. I can only recommend a
+fair trial. One of the most successful experiences of my sporting life
+was one of these "close misses." A very noble buck, broadside on, was
+trotting head up across my front and down a mountain slope nearly a
+hundred and fifty yards away,--out of reasonable range as archers count
+distances. I made my calculations as well as I could and loosed a
+shaft, more in honor of his wide branching antlers than in any sure
+hope. While the arrow was in the air the deer stopped short and looked
+at me. The shaft swept down its long curve and shattered its point
+against a rock at just the right height and about six feet in front of
+the beast. If he had continued his trot, it would have pierced his
+heart. Nothing was the worse for that adventure except the broad-head,
+which was gladly offered to the kindly gods who had so gratifyingly
+watched for me its straight true flight. And I had just as much
+satisfaction from the episode as though I had actually slain the
+deer,--and had had to cut it up and carry it into camp. This would not
+have been true with a rifle. At any range of the bullet's effectiveness
+I should have expected of myself a hit, and a miss would have hugely
+disappointed me with myself and ruined temporarily my otherwise sweet
+disposition.
+
+But even acknowledging all this, the fact indubitably remains that one
+must occasionally get results, one must occasionally _expect_ to get
+results, in order to retain interest. Even though one goes forth boldly
+to slay the bounding roebuck and brings back but the lowly jackrabbit,
+he must once in a blue moon be assured of the jackrabbit. And he must
+get the jackrabbit, not merely through the personal interposition of
+the little gods who preside at roulette tables, but because his bow arm
+held true and his release sweet and the shaft true sped.
+
+All this is perfectly possible. Any man can within a reasonable time
+become a reasonably good shot if he has the persistence to practice,
+and the patience to live through the first discouragements, and the
+ability to get some fun along the way. The game in its essentials seems
+to me a good deal like golf. It has a definite technique of a number of
+definite elements which must coordinate. When that technique is working
+smoothly results are certain. Like golf a man knows just what he is to
+do; only he cannot make himself do it! As the idea gets grooved in his
+brain, the swing--or the release and the hold,--become more and more
+automatic. But always there will be "on" days when he will shoot a par:
+and "off" days when both ball and shaft fly on the wings of
+contrariness.
+
+Of all the qualities above mentioned, I think for the beginner the most
+important is to cherish confident hope through the early
+discouragements. For a long time there seems to be no improvement
+whatever. And there is not improvement as far as score-results go. But
+the man who studies to perfect the elements of his technique, and is
+not merely shooting arrows promiscuously, is actually improving for all
+that. He must strive to remember that not only is each and every point
+important in itself, but that all must coordinate, must be working well
+together. No matter how crisp the release, it avails not an [sic]
+the bow arm falter or the back muscles relax. Again like golf, one day
+one thing will be working well, and another day another; but it is only
+when they are _all_ working well that the ball screams down the fairway
+or the arrow consistently finds its mark. Thus the beginner, practise
+as thoughtfully as he may, will for a time, perhaps a month or so, find
+little or no encouragement in the accuracy of his shaft's flight. This
+is the period when most men, who have started out enthusiastically
+enough, give up in disgust. Then all at once the persistent ones will
+begin to pick up. It is a good deal like dropping stones in a pool. One
+can drop in a great many stones without altering the surface of the
+water; but there comes a time when the addition of a single pebble
+shows results.
+
+In his chapter on Shooting the Bow, Dr. Pope has most adequately
+outlined the technique. If the beginner will do what the doctor there
+tells him to do, he will shoot correctly. Nevertheless he will find it
+necessary to find out for himself just _how_ he is going to do these
+things. It is largely a matter of getting the proper mental picture,
+and finding out how one feels when he is doing the right thing. Each
+probably gets an entirely individual mental image. Nevertheless a few
+hints from the beginner's standpoint may come gracefully from one who
+only yesterday was a beginner, and who today has struggled but little
+beyond the first marker post of progress.
+
+The target game and the hunting game differ somewhat, but the actual
+technique of releasing the arrow is the same in both. I strongly advise
+the use of a regulation target at regulation distances for at least
+half of one's practice. There is an inexorable quality about the
+painted rings. One cannot jolly oneself into a belief of a "pretty good
+one!" as one does when the roving arrow comes close to the little bush.
+Those rings are spaced in very definite inches! Even when one has
+graduated into a fairly hopeful hunting field, one returns every once
+in a while to the target to check himself up, to find out what he is
+doing wrong. And in the target, too, one can find the interest along
+that valley of preliminary discouragement. One should keep all one's
+scores, no matter how bad they may be. Even if a lowly seventy is the
+best one has been able to accomplish, there is a certain satisfaction
+in going after a not-so-slowly seventy-one. Every ten scores or so
+average up, and see what you have. Thus one can chart a sort of glacial
+movement upwards otherwise imperceptible to one's sardonic estimate of
+himself as the World's Champion Dub.
+
+Begin with a light bow; but work up into the heavier weights as rapidly
+as possible. The first bow I used at target weighed forty pounds. The
+first hunting bow, made for me by Dr. Pope, weighs sixty-five. I could
+draw it to the full, but only with difficulty; and it was not in any
+proper control. I seriously begged the doctor to reduce it for me,
+alleging that never would I be able to handle it. He very properly
+laughed at me. Within the year I had worked up to the point where
+seventy-five pounds seemed about right; and at the present writing I
+have one of eighty-two pounds that handles for me much easier than Dr.
+Pope's gift did at first. So begin light, but work up as fast as
+possible. Do not linger with a weak bow simply because it is easier to
+draw and because you can with it, and a light target, make a better
+target score.
+
+Beware of shooting too much just at first. If you strain the muscles of
+your drawing fingers you will have to lay off just when you are most
+eager. They strengthen very rapidly if you give them a chance. Once
+they are hardened to the work you will have no more trouble and can, as
+far as they are concerned, pop away as long as your bow arm holds out;
+but if once you get them tender and sore you will be forced to quit
+until they recover. It's as bad as a sprain.
+
+Start at forty yards. Stand upright, feet about a foot apart, facing a
+point at right angles to the target. Turn the head sharply to the left
+and look at the bull's-eye. _Do not thereafter move it by the fraction
+of an inch._ Bring your right arm across your chest. Pause and
+visualize the shot, collecting your powers. Now promptly raise your bow
+in direct line with the target. Draw the arrow to the head as it comes
+up. All your muscles are, up to this point, alert but tensed only to
+the extent necessary to draw the shaft. At the exact moment of release,
+however, they stiffen to the utmost. It is like a little spurt of
+energy released to speed the arrow on its way. That, I think, is what
+Dr. Pope means when he says one should "put his heart in the bow." It
+helps to imagine yourself trying to drive the arrow right through the
+target. Pay especial attention to the muscles of the small of the back.
+The least relaxation there means an ill-sped shaft. The bow arm must be
+on the point of aim, and _held_ there. The release must be sharply
+backward, and vigorous. Personally I find that my mental image is of
+contracting the latissimus dorsi--the muscles of the broad of the back
+by the shoulder blades--and thereby expanding the shoulders, forcing
+the hands apart, but still in direct line with the bull's-eye. And
+after the arrow has left the bow, _hold the pose!_ Carry through!
+Imagine yourself as a statue of an archer, and stay just in that
+position until you hear the arrow strike.
+
+Just in the beginning, at forty yards, with thirty arrows, you may be
+satisfied if you hit the target between sixteen and twenty-one times
+out of the thirty shots and make a score of from sixty to eighty
+points. Your ambition will be, as in golf, to "break" a hundred. By the
+time you have done that your muscles will be in shape and you can begin
+on the American Round. At first you will probably make a total of about
+two hundred for the three distances. Progress will show in your
+averages. They will creep up a few points at a time. It will be a proud
+day when you "break" three hundred. Eventually you will shoot
+consistently in the four hundreds; and that is about as far as you will
+go unless you devote yourself to the target game, and confine yourself
+to its lighter tackle and the super refinements of its delicate
+technique.
+
+The bow you will finally use for practice at the target will not be a
+hunting bow. It will be longer and more whip-ended and not so sturdy.
+But if you are to get the best results for the hunting field, I believe
+it should approximate in weight the hunting weapon. It should not be
+quite as heavy, for one shoots it more continuously. The one I use
+weighs sixty pounds. With a lighter bow one would probably make a
+somewhat better score; but that is a different game. Do not get the
+idea, however, that mere weight is the whole thing. Nothing is worse
+than to be over-bowed; and many a deer has been slain with a fifty or
+fifty-five pound weapon. Only, there is a weight that is adapted to you
+at your best; that "holds you together"; that keeps you on the mark;
+that calls your concentration; and that is like to be on the heavier
+rather than the lighter side as judged by beginner's experience.
+
+In conclusion, let me urge you eventually to make your own tackle.
+Personally, I am not dexterous when it comes to matters of finer
+handicraft; and when I became interested in this game I made up my mind
+that the construction of a bow or the building of a decent arrow was
+outside my line, and that I would not attempt it. After a while Pope
+persuaded me I ought to try arrows, at least. Under protest I attempted
+the job. The Doctor says it takes about an hour to make a good arrow. I
+can add that it takes about four hours to make a bad one. Still, when
+completed it did look surprisingly like an arrow, and it flew point
+first. Pope looked it all over and handed it back with the single
+comment that I certainly had got the shaft straight. But that arrow was
+very valuable. It proved to me that I could at least follow out the
+process and produce _some_ result. It also convinced me that Ashan
+Vitu--who was a heathen god of archers--possessed a magic that could
+make one drop of glue on the shaft become at least one quart on the
+fingers; and that turkeys are obsessed with small contrary devils who
+pass at the bird's death into the first six feathers of its wings and
+there lurk to the confusion of amateur archers. But I wanted to make
+another arrow; and I did; and it was a better arrow and took less time.
+I have that first arrow yet. It is a good idea to number the output;
+and to preserve a sample out of every three dozen or so, just to show
+not only your progress but also the advance of your ideas as to what
+constitutes a good arrow. And some you will probably find valuable for
+especial emergencies. Number Three of my own product is just such a
+one. It starts straight enough for the point at which it was aimed.
+When about thirty yards out it begins to entertain its first distrust
+of its master, and to proceed according to its own ideas. It makes up
+its mind that it has been held too high, and immediately goes into a
+nose dive to rectify the fault. Instantly it realizes that it has
+overdone the matter, and makes a desperate effort to straighten back on
+its course. A partial success darts it to the right. Number Three
+becomes ashamed and flustered. Its course from there on is a series of
+erratic dives and swoops. I should be very sorry to lose Number Three,
+for I am quite confident that I could never make another such. When my
+most painstaking shooting has resulted in a series of misses, I launch
+Number Three. There is no particular good in aiming it, though it can
+be done if found amusing. But it is surprising how often it will at the
+last moment pull off one of its erratic swoops--right into the mark!
+As a compensating device for rotten shooting it is unexcelled. It is a
+pity to laugh at it as much as we do; for I am convinced it is a
+conscientious arrow doing its best under natural handicap; like a prima
+donna with a cleft palate, for instance.
+
+In a manner not dissimilar to my beginning of the fletching art, I took
+up bow making. It can be done. The only thing is to go at it without
+any particular hope. Then you will be surprised and pleased that you
+have achieved any result at all, and will at once see where you could
+do better again. To make a very fine bow is a real art and requires
+much experience and many trials. But to make a serviceable bow that
+will shoot and will hold up for a time is not very difficult. And it is
+great fun! The first occasion on which you go afield with bow,
+bowstring, arrow, quiver, bracer, and finger tips all of your own
+composition, and loose the shaft and the thing not only flies well but
+straight and far, you will taste a wonder and a satisfaction new to
+your experience. It will probably take you some time to convince
+yourself that somehow the whole outfit is not a base imitation.
+
+From that moment you are a true archer, and you will actually look with
+tolerance on anything so stiff and metallic and mechanical as a gun.
+Your wife will accustom herself to shavings and scraps of feathers on
+the rugs. Inspirations will come to you anent better methods, which you
+will urge enthusiastically on the old timers; and the old timers will
+smile upon you sweetly and sadly. They had those same inspirations
+themselves in their green and salad days. Then no longer will you need
+a Chapter of Encouragement. [1]
+[Footnote 1: Stewart Edward White, the author and big game hunter, has
+so entered into the spirit of archery, that he has become an expert
+shot with the bow after a year's practice. The use of fire-arms no
+longer appeals to him because it is a foregone conclusion just what
+will happen when he aims at an animal. He was considered by Col.
+Roosevelt to be the best shot that ever entered the African game field
+with a gun.
+
+In the use of the bow he has revived his interest in hunting, and
+admits that it is a more sporting proposition. At this present writing
+Stewart Edward White, Arthur Young, and I, are on our way to Tanganyika
+Colony, Africa, to carry the legends of the English long bow into the
+tropics. What is written on the scroll of Fate is not visible; but with
+a sturdy bow, a true shaft, and a stout heart, we journey forth in
+search of adventure.
+
+S. P.]
+
+
+
+
+THE UPSHOT
+
+In ancient times when archery was practiced in open fields and shooting
+at butts or clouts, men walked between their distances much as golfers
+do today, and having completed their course, it was often customary to
+shoot a return round over the same field. This was called the upshot,
+and has descended into common parlance, just as many other phrases have
+which had their origin in the use of the bow and arrow.
+
+So we have come to the end of our story and prepare to say good-bye.
+
+Although we have said much, and probably too much of ourselves, we have
+not spoken the last word in archery. There are a few things that we
+have learned of the art; others know more. And though we would praise
+our pastime beyond measure, protesting that it is healthful, admirable
+and full of romance, yet we cannot claim that it accomplishes all
+things and is the only sport a man should pursue.
+
+Its devotees will find ample room for differences of opinion. The shape
+of a feather and the contour of a bow have been subjects for argument
+since time immemorial. Nor is our art suited to all men. Few indeed
+seem fitted for archery or care for it. But that rare soul who finds in
+its appeal something that satisfies his desire for fair play, historic
+sentiment, and the call of the open world, will be happy.
+
+People will scoff at him for his "medieval crotchet," will think of him
+as the Don Quixote of Sherwood Forest, but in their hearts they will
+have a wistful envy of him; for all men feel the nobility and honorable
+past of our sport. It carries with it dim memory pictures of spring
+days, the green woods and the joy of youth.
+
+It is also futile to prophesy the future of the bow and arrow. As an
+implement of the chase, to us it seems to hold a place unique for
+fairness. And in the further development of the wild game problem,
+where apparently large game preserves and refuges will be the order of
+the day, the bow is a more fitting weapon with which to slay a beast
+than a gun or any more powerful agent that may be invented.
+
+Of course, there are those who say that all hunting should cease, and
+that photography and nature study alone should be directed toward wild
+life. That sweet day may come, but at least no man can consistently
+decry hunting who eats meat, wears furs or leather, or uses any vestige
+of animal tissue; for he is party to the crime of animal murder, and
+murder more brutal and ignoble than that of the chase.
+
+And those who think the bullet is more certain and humane than the
+arrow have no accurate knowledge on which to base their comparison. Our
+experience has proved the contrary to be the case.
+
+Yet these are not the reasons why we shoot the bow: we do it because we
+love it, and this is no reason; it is an emotion difficult to explain.
+
+Nor should I close this chapter without reference to that noble company
+of archers, the members of the National Archery Association--men and
+women who can shoot as pretty a shaft as any who ever drew a bowstring.
+The names of Will Thompson, Louis Maxson, George P. Bryant, Harry
+Richardson, Dr. Robert P. Elmer, Homer Taylor, Mrs. Howell, and Cynthia
+Wesson are emblazoned on the annals of archery history for all time. To
+them and the many other worthy bowmen who have fostered the art in
+America, we are eternally grateful. The self-imposed discipline of
+target shooting is much harder work than the carefree effort of
+hunting. The rewards, however, are less spectacular.
+
+To you who would follow us into the land of Robin Hood, let me say that
+what you need most is a great longing to come, and perseverance; for if
+I should try to explain how we have accomplished even that little we
+have in hunting, I would protest that it is because we have held to an
+idea and been persistent. In my own mind the credit is ascribed to the
+fact that I have surrounded myself with good companions and tried again
+and again in spite of failure.
+
+All that we have done is perfectly possible to any adventurous youth,
+no matter what his age.
+
+Nor is that which is written here the finis, for even as I scribble we
+are on our journey to another hunt, and bowmen seem ever to be
+increasing in numbers.
+
+May the gods grant us all space to carry a sturdy bow and wander
+through the forest glades to seek the bounding deer; to lie in the deep
+meadow grasses; to watch the flight of birds; to smell the fragrance of
+burning leaves; to cast an upward glance at the unobserved beauty of
+the moon. May they give us strength to draw the string to the cheek,
+the arrow to the barb and loose the flying shaft, so long as life may
+last.
+
+Farewell and shoot well!
+
+[Illustration: (Signature of) Saxton Pope]
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Hunting with the Bow and Arrow, by Saxton Pope
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Hunting with the Bow and Arrow, by Saxton Pope
+
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+*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!*****
+
+
+Title: Hunting with the Bow and Arrow
+
+Author: Saxton Pope
+
+Release Date: May, 2005 [EBook #8084]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on June 13, 2003]
+
+Edition: 10
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-Latin-1
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HUNTING WITH THE BOW AND ARROW ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Eric Eldred, Marvin A. Hodges, Tonya Allen, Charles Franks
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: THE SHADES OF SHERWOOD FOREST]
+
+HUNTING with the
+
+BOW & ARROW
+
+By
+
+Saxton Pope
+
+With 48 Illustrations
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+DEDICATED
+
+TO
+
+ROBIN HOOD
+
+A SPIRIT THAT AT SOME TIME DWELLS IN
+
+THE HEART OF EVERY YOUTH
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+I.--THE STORY OF THE LAST YANA INDIAN.
+
+II.--ISHI'S BOW AND ARROW.
+
+III.--ISHI'S METHODS OF HUNTING.
+
+IV.--ARCHERY IN GENERAL.
+
+V.--HOW TO MAKE A BOW.
+
+VI.--HOW TO MAKE AN ARROW.
+
+VII.--ARCHERY EQUIPMENT.
+
+VIII.--HOW TO SHOOT.
+
+IX.--THE PRINCIPLES OF HUNTING.
+
+X.--THE RACCOON, WILDCAT, FOX, COON, CAT, AND WOLF.
+
+XI.--DEER HUNTING.
+
+XII.--BEAR HUNTING.
+
+XIII.--MOUNTAIN LIONS.
+
+XIV.--GRIZZLY BEAR.
+
+XV.--ALASKAN ADVENTURES.
+
+    A CHAPTER OF ENCOURAGEMENT BY STEWART EDWARD WHITE.
+
+    THE UPSHOT.
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+THE SHADES OF SHERWOOD FOREST
+
+A DEATH MASK OF ISHI
+
+ISHI AND APPERSON
+
+CALLING GAME IN AMBUSH
+
+THE INDIAN'S FAVORITE SHOOTING POSITION
+
+CHOPPING OUT A JUNIPER BOW
+
+OUR CARAVAN LEAVING DEER CREEK CANYON
+
+ISHI FLAKING AN OBSIDIAN ARROW HEAD
+
+THE INDIAN AND A DEER
+
+THREE TYPES OF HUNTING ARROWS
+
+A BLUNT ARROW SHOT THROUGH AN INCH BOARD
+
+"BRER" FOX UP A TREE
+
+ART YOUNG SHOOTS FISH
+
+DETAILS OF BOW CONSTRUCTION
+
+SEVERAL STEPS IN ARROW MAKING
+
+ARROW HEADS OF VARIOUS SORTS USED IN HUNTING
+
+NECESSARY ARCHERY EQUIPMENT
+
+AN ARCHER'S MEASURE, A FISTMELE
+
+THE ENGLISH METHOD OF DRAWING THE ARROW
+
+NOCKING THE SHAFT ON THE STRING
+
+THE LONG BOW FULL DRAWN
+
+WILL AND MAURICE THOMPSON, AS THEY APPEARED IN 1878
+
+SHOOTING BRUSH RABBITS
+
+ARCHERS IN AMBUSH
+
+ISHI RIDING A HORSE FOR THE FIRST TIME
+
+A REST AT NOON
+
+A LYNX THAT MET AN ARCHER
+
+THE CHIEF LOOKING OVER GOOD DEER COUNTRY
+
+MR. COON BROUGHT INTO CAMP
+
+A PRETTY PAIR OF WINGS
+
+JUST A LITTLE HUNT BEFORE BREAKFAST
+
+YOUNG AND COMPTON WITH A QUAIL APIECE
+
+WOODCHUCKS GALORE!
+
+PORCUPINE QUILLS TO DECORATE A QUIVER
+
+A FATAL ARROW AT 65 YARDS
+
+THE CHIEF AND ART GET A BUCK AT 85 YARDS
+
+TOM MURPHY WITH HIS TWO BEST DOGS, BUTTON AND BALDY
+
+YOUNG AND I ARE VERY PROUD OF OUR MAIDEN BEAR
+
+ARTHUR YOUNG AND HIS COUGAR
+
+OUR FIRST MOUNTAIN LION
+
+WE PACK THE PANTHER TO CAMP
+
+CAMP AT SQUAW LAKE, WYOMING
+
+THE RESULT OF OUR FIRST ENCOUNTER WITH GRIZZLY BEAR
+
+BRINGING HOME THE TROPHIES
+
+LOOKING FOR GRIZZLIES ON CUB CREEK
+
+THE TREE THAT NED FROST CLIMBED TO ESCAPE DEATH
+
+MY FEMALE GRIZZLY AND THE ARROW THAT KILLED HER
+
+ARTHUR YOUNG SLAYS THE MONARCH OF THE MOUNTAINS
+
+BULL MOOSE BAGGED ON THE KENAI PENINSULA
+
+THE GREAT KADIAC BEAR BROUGHT LOW
+
+ARTHUR YOUNG OUTWITS THE ALASKA BIGHORN
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Hunting with the Bow and Arrow
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+
+THE STORY OF THE LAST YANA INDIAN
+
+
+The glory and romance of archery culminated in England before the
+discovery of America. There, no doubt, the bow was used to its greatest
+perfection, and it decided the fate of nations. The crossbow and the
+matchlock had supplanted the longbow when Columbus sailed for the New
+World.
+
+It was, therefore, a distinct surprise to the first explorers of
+America that the natives used the bow and arrow so effectively. In
+fact, the sword and the horse, combined with the white man's
+superlative self-assurance, won the contest over the aborigines more
+than the primitive blunderbuss of the times. The bow and arrow was
+still more deadly than the gun.
+
+With the gradual extermination of the American Indian, the westward
+march of civilization, and the improvement in firearms, this contest
+became more and more unequal, and the bow disappeared from the land.
+The last primitive Indian archer was discovered in California in the
+year 1911.
+
+When the white pioneers of California descended through the northern
+part of that State by the Lassen trail, they met with a tribe of
+Indians known as the Yana, or Yahi. That is the name they called
+themselves. Their neighbors called them the Nozi, and the white men
+called them the Deer Creek or Mill Creek Indians. Different from the
+other tribes of this territory, the Yana would not submit without a
+struggle to the white man's conquest of their lands.
+
+The Yana were hunters and warriors. The usual California natives were
+yellow in color, fat and inclined to be peaceable. The Yana were
+smaller of stature, lithe, of reddish bronze complexion, and instead of
+being diggers of roots, they lived by the salmon spear and the bow.
+Their range extended over an area south of Mount Lassen, east of the
+Sacramento River, for a distance of fifty miles.
+
+From the earliest settlement of the whites, hostilities existed between
+them. This resulted in definitely organized expeditions against these
+Indians, and the annual slaughter of hundreds.
+
+The last big round-up of Mill Creek Indians occurred in 1872, when
+their tribe was surprised at its seasonal harvest of acorns. Upon this
+occasion a posse of whites killed such a number of natives that it is
+said the creek was damned with dead bodies. An accurate account of
+these days may be obtained from Watterman's paper on the Yana Indians.
+[1][Footnote 1: Vol. 13, No. 2, _Am. Archaeology and Ethnology_.]
+
+During one of the final raids upon the Yana, a little band of Indian
+women and children hid in a cave. Here they were discovered and
+murdered in cold blood. One of the white scouting party laconically
+stated that he used his revolver to blow out their brains because the
+rifle spattered up the cave too much.
+
+So it came to pass, that from two or three thousand people, the Yana
+were reduced to less than a dozen who escaped extermination. These were
+mainly women, old men and children. This tribal remnant sought the
+refuge of the impenetrable brush and volcanic rocks of Deer Creek
+Canyon. Here they lived by stealth and cunning. Like wild creatures,
+they kept from sight until the whites quite forgot their existence.
+
+It became almost a legend that wild Indians lived in the Mount Lassen
+district. From time to time ranchers or sheep herders reported that
+their flocks had been molested, that signs of Indians had been found or
+that arrowheads were discovered in their sheep. But little credence was
+given these rumors until the year 1908, when an electric power company
+undertook to run a survey line across Deer Creek Canyon with the object
+of constructing a dam.
+
+One evening, as a party of linemen stood on a log at the edge of the
+deep swift stream debating the best place to ford, a naked Indian rose
+up before them, giving a savage snarl and brandishing a spear. In an
+instant the survey party disbanded, fell from the log, and crossed the
+stream in record-breaking time. When they stopped to get their breath,
+the Indian had disappeared. This was the first appearance of Ishi, [2]
+[Footnote 2: Ishi is pronounced "E-she."] the Yana.
+
+Next morning an exploring expedition set out to verify the excited
+report of the night before. The popular opinion was that no such
+wildman existed, and that the linemen had been seeing things. One of
+the group offered to bet that no signs of Indians would be found.
+
+As the explorers reached the slide of volcanic boulders where the
+apparition of the day before had disappeared, two arrows flew past
+them. They made a run for the top of the slide and reached it just in
+time to see two Indians vanish in the brush. They left behind them an
+old white-haired squaw, whom they had been carrying. She was partially
+paralyzed, and her legs were bound in swaths of willow bark, seemingly
+in an effort to strengthen them.
+
+The old squaw was wrinkled with age, her hair was cropped short as a
+sign of mourning, and she trembled with fear. The white men approached
+and spoke kindly to her in Spanish. But she seemed not to understand
+their words, and apparently expected only death, for in the past to
+meet a white man was to die. They gave her water to drink, and tried to
+make her call back her companions, but without avail.
+
+Further search disclosed two small brush huts hidden among the laurel
+trees. So cleverly concealed were these structures that one could pass
+within a few yards and not discern them. In one of the huts acorns and
+dried salmon had been stored; the other was their habitation. There was
+a small hearth for indoor cooking; bows, arrows, fishing tackle, a few
+aboriginal utensils and a fur robe were found. These were confiscated
+in the white man's characteristic manner. They then left the place and
+returned to camp.
+
+Next day the party revisited the site, hoping to find the rest of the
+Indians. These, however, had gone forever.
+
+Nothing more was seen or heard of this little band until the year 1911,
+when on the outskirts of Oroville, some thirty-two miles from the Deer
+Creek camp, a lone survivor appeared. Early in the morning, brought to
+bay by a barking dog, huddled in the corner of a corral, was an
+emaciated naked Indian. So strange was his appearance and so alarmed
+was the butcher's boy who found him, that a hasty call for the town
+constable brought out an armed force to capture him.
+
+Confronted with guns, pistols, and handcuffs, the poor man was sick
+with fear. He was taken to the city jail and locked up for safekeeping.
+There he awaited death. For years he had believed that to fall into the
+hands of white men meant death. All his people had been killed by
+whites; no other result could happen. So he waited in fear and
+trembling. They brought him food, but he would not eat; water, but he
+would not drink. They asked him questions, but he could not speak. With
+the simplicity of the white man, they brought him other Indians of
+various tribes, thinking that surely all "Diggers" were the same. But
+their language was as strange to him as Chinese or Greek.
+
+And so they thought him crazy. His hair was burnt short, his feet had
+never worn shoes, he had small bits of wood in his nose and ears; he
+neither ate, drank, nor slept. He was indeed wild or insane.
+
+By this time the news of the wild Indian got into the city papers, and
+Professor T. T. Watterman, of the Department of Anthropology at the
+University of California, was sent to investigate the case. He
+journeyed to Oroville and was brought into the presence of this strange
+Indian. Having knowledge of many native dialects, Dr. Watterman tried
+one after the other on the prisoner. Through good fortune, some of the
+Yana vocabulary had been preserved in the records of the University.
+Venturing upon this lost language, Watterman spoke in Yana the words,
+_Siwini_, which means pine wood, tapping at the same time the edge of
+the cot on which they sat.
+
+In wonderment, the Indian's face lighted with faint recognition.
+Watterman repeated the charm, and like a spell the man changed from a
+cowering, trembling savage. A furtive smile came across his face. He
+said in his language, _I nu ma Yaki_--"Are you an Indian?" Watterman
+assured him that he was.
+
+A great sense of relief entered the situation. Watterman had discovered
+one of the lost tribes of California; Ishi had discovered a friend.
+
+They clothed him and fed him, and he learned that the white man was
+good.
+
+Since no formal charges were lodged against the Indian, and he seemed
+to have no objection, Watterman took him to San Francisco, and there,
+attached to the Museum of Anthropology, he became a subject of study
+and lived happily for five years.
+
+From him it was learned that his people were all dead. The old woman
+seen in the Deer Creek episode was his mother; the old man was his
+uncle. These died on a long journey to Mt. Lassen, soon after their
+discovery. Here he had burned their bodies and gone into mourning. The
+fact that the white men took their means of procuring food, as well as
+their clothing, contributed, no doubt, to the death of the older
+people.
+
+Half starved and hopeless, he had wandered into civilization. His
+father, once the chieftain of the Yana tribe, having domain over all
+the country immediately south of Mt. Lassen, was long since gone, and
+with him all his people. Ranchers and stockmen had usurped their
+country, spoiled the fishing, and driven off the game. The acorn trees
+of the valleys had been taken from them; nothing remained but evil
+spirits in the land of his forefathers.
+
+Now, however, he had found kindly people who fed him, clothed him, and
+taught him the mysteries of civilization. When asked his name, he said:
+"I have none, because there were no people to name me," meaning that no
+tribal ceremony had been performed. But the old people had called him
+Ishi, which means "strong and straight one," for he was the youth of
+their camp. He had learned to make fire with sticks; he knew the lost
+art of chipping arrowheads from flint and obsidian; he was the
+fisherman and the hunter. He knew nothing of our modern life. He had no
+name for iron, nor cloth, nor horse, nor road. He was as primitive as
+the aborigines of the pre-Columbian period. In fact, he was a man in
+the Stone Age. He was absolutely untouched by civilization. In him
+science had a rare find. He turned back the pages of history countless
+centuries. And so they studied him, and he studied them.
+
+From him they learned little of his personal history and less of that
+of his family, because an Indian considers it unbecoming to speak much
+of his own life, and it brings ill luck to speak of the dead. He could
+not pronounce the name of his father without calling him from the land
+of spirits, and this he could only do for some very important reason.
+But he knew the full history of his tribe and their destruction.
+
+His apparent age was about forty years, yet he undoubtedly was nearer
+sixty. Because of his simple life he was in physical prime, mentally
+alert, and strong in body.
+
+He was about five feet eight inches tall, well proportioned, had
+beautiful hands and unspoiled feet.
+
+His features were less aquiline than those of the Plains Indian, yet
+strongly marked outlines, high cheek bones, large intelligent eyes,
+straight black hair, and fine teeth made him good to look upon.
+
+As an artisan he was very skilful and ingenious. Accustomed to
+primitive tools of stone and bone, he soon learned to use most expertly
+the knife, file, saw, vise, hammer, ax, and other modern implements.
+
+Although he marveled at many of our inventions and appreciated matches,
+he took great pride in his ability to make fire with two sticks of
+buckeye. This he could do in less than two minutes by twirling one on
+the other.
+
+About this time I became an instructor in surgery at the University
+Medical School, which is situated next to the Museum. Ishi was employed
+here in a small way as a janitor to teach him modern industry and the
+value of money. He was perfectly happy and a great favorite with
+everybody.
+
+From his earliest experience with our community life he manifested
+little immunity to disease. He contracted all the epidemic infections
+with which he was brought in contact. He lived a very hygienic
+existence, having excellent food and sleeping outdoors, but still he
+was often sick. Because of this I came in touch with him as his
+physician in the hospital, and soon learned to admire him for the fine
+qualities of his nature.
+
+[Illustration: A DEATH MASK OF ISHI, THE LAST YANA INDIAN]
+
+Though very reserved, he was kindly, honest, cleanly, and trustworthy.
+More than this, he had a superior philosophy of life, and a high moral
+standard.
+
+By degrees I learned to speak his dialect, and spent many hours in his
+company. He told us the folk lore of his tribe. More than forty myths
+or animal stories of his have been recorded and preserved. They are as
+interesting as the stories of Uncle Remus. The escapades of wildcat,
+the lion, the grizzly bear, the bluejay, the lizard, and the coyote are
+as full of excitement and comedy as any fairy story.
+
+He knew the history and use of everything in the outdoor world. He
+spoke the language of the animals. He taught me to make bows and
+arrows, how to shoot them, and how to hunt, Indian fashion. He was a
+wonderful companion in the woods, and many days and nights we journeyed
+together.
+
+After he had been with us three years we took him back to his own
+country. But he did not want to stay. He liked the ways of the white
+man, and his own land was full of the spirits of the departed.
+
+He showed us old forgotten camp sites where past chieftains made their
+villages. He took us to deer licks and ambushes used by his people long
+ago. One day in passing the base of a great rock he scratched with his
+toe and dug up the bones of a bear's paw. Here, in years past, they had
+killed and roasted a bear. This was the camp of _Ya mo lo ku_. His own
+camp was called _Wowomopono Tetna_ or bear wallow.
+
+We swam the streams together, hunted deer and small game, and at night
+sat under the stars by the camp fire, where in a simple way we talked
+of old heroes, the worlds above us, and his theories of the life to
+come in the land of plenty, where the bounding deer and the mighty bear
+met the hunter with his strong bow and swift arrows.
+
+I learned to love Ishi as a brother, and he looked upon me as one of
+his people. He called me _Ku wi_, or Medicine Man; more, perhaps,
+because I could perform little sleight of hand tricks, than because of
+my profession.
+
+But, in spite of the fact that he was happy and surrounded by the most
+advanced material culture, he sickened and died. Unprotected by
+hereditary or acquired immunity, he contracted tuberculosis and faded
+away before our eyes. Because he had no natural resistance, he received
+no benefit from such hygienic measures as serve to arrest the disease
+in the Caucasian. We did everything possible for him, and nursed him to
+the painful bitter end.
+
+When his malady was discovered, plans were made to take him back to the
+mountains whence he came and there have him cared for properly. We
+hoped that by this return to his natural elements he would recover. But
+from the inception of his disease he failed so rapidly that he was not
+strong enough to travel.
+
+Consumed with fever and unable to eat nourishing food, he seemed doomed
+from the first. After months of misery he suddenly developed a
+tremendous pulmonary hemorrhage. I was with him at the time, directed
+his medication, and gently stroked his hand as a small sign of
+fellowship and sympathy. He did not care for marked demonstrations of
+any sort.
+
+He was a stoic, unafraid, and died in the faith of his people.
+
+As an Indian should go, so we sent him on his long journey to the land
+of shadows. By his side we placed his fire sticks, ten pieces of
+dentalia or Indian money, a small bag of acorn meal, a bit of dried
+venison, some tobacco, and his bow and arrows.
+
+These were cremated with him and the ashes placed in an earthen jar. On
+it is inscribed "Ishi, the last Yana Indian, 1916."
+
+And so departed the last wild Indian of America. With him the neolithic
+epoch terminates. He closes a chapter in history. He looked upon us as
+sophisticated children--smart, but not wise. We knew many things and
+much that is false. He knew nature, which is always true. His were the
+qualities of character that last forever. He was essentially kind; he
+had courage and self-restraint, and though all had been taken from him,
+there was no bitterness in his heart. His soul was that of a child, his
+mind that of a philosopher.
+
+With him there was no word for good-by. He said: "You stay, I go."
+
+He has gone and he hunts with his people. We stay, and he has left us
+the heritage of the bow.
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+
+HOW ISHI MADE HIS BOW AND ARROW AND HIS METHODS OF SHOOTING
+
+
+Although much has been written in history and fiction concerning the
+archery of the North American Indian, strange to say, very little has
+been recorded of the methods of manufacture of their weapons, and less
+in accurate records of their shooting.
+
+It is a great privilege to have lived with an unspoiled aborigine and
+seen him step by step construct the most perfect type of bow and arrow.
+
+The workmanship of Ishi was by far the best of any Indian in America;
+compared with thousands of specimens in the museum, his arrows were the
+most carefully and beautifully made; his bow was the best.
+
+It would take too much time to go into the minute details of his work,
+and this has all been recorded in anthropologic records, [1]
+[Footnote 1: See _Yahi Archery_, Vol. 13, No. 3, _Am. Archaeology and
+Ethnology_.]
+but the outlines of his methods are as follows:
+
+The bow, Ishi called _man-nee_. It was a short, flat piece of mountain
+juniper backed with sinew. The length was forty-two inches, or, as he
+measured it, from the horizontally extended hand to the opposite hip.
+It was broadest at the center of each limb, approximately two inches,
+and half an inch thick. The cross-section of this part was elliptical.
+At the center of the bow the handgrip was about an inch and a quarter
+wide by three-quarters thick, a cross-section being ovoid. At the tips
+it was curved gently backward and measured at the nocks three-quarters
+by one-half an inch. The nock itself was square shouldered and
+terminated in a pin half an inch in diameter and an inch long.
+
+The wood was obtained by splitting a limb from a tree and utilizing the
+outer layers, including the sap wood. By scraping and rubbing on
+sandstone, he shaped and finished it. The recurved tips of the bow he
+made by bending the wood backward over a heated stone. Held in shape by
+cords and binding to another piece of wood, he let his bow season in a
+dark, dry place. Here it remained from a few months to years, according
+to his needs. After being seasoned he backed it with sinew. First he
+made a glue by boiling salmon skin and applying it to the roughened
+back of the bow. When it was dry he laid on long strips of deer sinew
+obtained from the leg tendons. By chewing these tendons and separating
+their fibers, they became soft and adhesive. Carefully overlapping the
+ends of the numerous fibers he covered the entire back very thickly. At
+the nocks he surrounded the wood completely and added a circular
+binding about the bow.
+
+During the process of drying he bound the sinew tightly to the bow with
+long, thin strips of willow bark. After several days he removed this
+bandage and smoothed off the edges of the dry sinew, sized the surface
+with more glue and rubbed everything smooth with sandstone. Then he
+bound the handgrip for a space of four inches with a narrow buckskin
+thong.
+
+In his native state he seems never to have greased his bow nor
+protected it from moisture, except by his bow case, which was made of
+the skin from a cougar's tail. But while with us he used shellac to
+protect the glue and wood. Other savages use buck fat or bear grease.
+
+The bowstring he made of the finer tendons from the deer's shank. These
+he chewed until soft, then twisted them tightly into a cord having a
+permanent loop at one end and a buckskin strand at the other. While wet
+the string was tied between two twigs and rubbed smooth with spittle.
+Its diameter was one-eighth of an inch, its length about forty-eight
+inches. When dry the loop was applied to the upper nock of his bow
+while he bent the bow over his knee and wound the opposite end of the
+string about the lower nock. The buckskin thong terminating this
+portion of the string made it easier to tie in several half hitches.
+
+When braced properly the bowstring was about five inches from the belly
+of the bow. And when not in use and unstrung the upper loop was slipped
+entirely off the nock, but held from falling away from the bow by a
+second small loop of buckskin.
+
+Drawn to the full length of an arrow, which was about twenty-six
+inches, exclusive of the foreshaft, his bow bent in a perfect arc
+slightly flattened at the handle. Its pull was about forty-five pounds,
+and it could shoot an arrow about two hundred yards.
+
+This is not the most powerful type of weapon known to Indians, and even
+Ishi did make stronger bows when he pleased; but this seemed to be the
+ideal weight for hunting, and it certainly was adequate in his hands.
+
+According to English standards, it was very short; but for hunting in
+the brush and shooting from crouched postures, it seems better fitted
+for the work than a longer weapon.
+
+According to Ishi, a bow left strung or standing in an upright
+position, gets tired and sweats. When not in use it should be lying
+down; no one should step over it; no child should handle it, and no
+woman should touch it. This brings bad luck and makes it shoot crooked.
+To expunge such an influence it is necessary to wash the bow in sand
+and water.
+
+In his judgment, a good bow made a musical note when strung and the
+string is tapped with the arrow. This was man's first harp, the great
+grandfather of the pianoforte.
+
+By placing one end of his bow at the corner of his open mouth and
+tapping the string with an arrow, the Yana could make sweet music. It
+sounded like an Aeolian harp. To this accompaniment Ishi sang a
+folk-song telling of a great warrior whose bow was so strong that,
+dipping his arrow first in fire, then in the ocean, he shot at the sun.
+As swift as the wind, his arrow flew straight in the round open door of
+the sun and put out its light. Darkness fell upon the earth and men
+shivered with cold. To prevent themselves from freezing they grew
+feathers, and thus our brothers, the birds, were born.
+
+Ishi called an arrow _sa wa_.
+
+In making arrows the first thing is to get the shafts. Ishi used many
+woods, but he preferred witch hazel. The long, straight stems of this
+shrub he cut in lengths of thirty-two inches, having a diameter of
+three-eighths of an inch at the base when peeled of bark.
+
+He bound a number of these together and put them away in a shady place
+to dry. After a week or more, preferably several months, he selected
+the best shafts and straightened them. This he accomplished by holding
+the concave surface near a small heap of hot embers and when warm he
+either pressed his great toe on the opposite side, or he bent the wood
+backward on the base of the thumb. Squinting down its axis he lined up
+the uneven contours one after the other and laid the shaft aside until
+a series of five was completed. He made up arrows in lots of five or
+ten, according to the requirements, his fingers being the measure.
+
+The sticks thus straightened he ran back and forth between two grooved
+pieces of sandstone or revolved them on his thigh while holding the
+stones in his hand, until they were smooth and reduced to a diameter of
+about five-sixteenths of an inch. Next they were cut into lengths of
+approximately twenty-six inches. The larger end was now bound with a
+buckskin thong and drilled out for the depth of an inch and a half to
+receive the end of the foreshaft. He drilled this hole by fixing a
+long, sharp bone in the ground between his great toes and revolved the
+upright shaft between his palms on this fixed point, the buckskin
+binding keeping the wood from splitting.
+
+The foreshaft was made of heavier wood, frequently mountain mahogany.
+It was the same diameter as the arrow, only tapering a trifle toward
+the front end, and usually was about six inches long. This was
+carefully shaped into a spindle at the larger end and set in the
+recently drilled hole of the shaft, using glue or resin for this
+purpose. The joint was bound with chewed sinew, set in glue.
+
+The length of an arrow, over all, was estimated by Ishi in this manner.
+He placed one end on the top of his breast-bone and held the other end
+out in his extended left hand. Where it touched the tip of his
+forefinger it was cut as the proper length. This was about thirty-two
+inches.
+
+The rear end of his arrow was now notched to receive the bowstring. He
+filed it with a bit of obsidian, or later on, with three hacksaw blades
+bound together until he made a groove one-eighth of an inch wide by
+three-eighths deep. The opposite end of the shaft was notched in a
+similar way to receive the head. The direction of this latter cut was
+such that when the arrow was on the bow the edge of the arrowhead was
+perpendicular, for the fancied reason that in this position the arrow
+when shot enters between the ribs of an animal more readily. He did not
+seem to recognize that an arrow rotates.
+
+At this stage he painted his shafts. The pigments used in the wilds
+were red cinnabar, black pigment from the eye of trout, a green
+vegetable dye from wild onions, and a blue obtained, he said, from the
+root of a plant. These were mixed with the sap or resin of trees and
+applied with a little stick or hairs from a fox's tail drawn through a
+quill.
+
+His usual design was a series of alternating rings of green and black
+starting two inches from the rear end and running four inches up the
+shaft. Or he made small circular dots and snaky lines running down the
+shaft for a similar distance. When with us he used dry colors mixed
+with shellac, which he preferred to oil paints because they dried
+quicker. The painted area, intended for the feathers, is called the
+shaftment and not only helps in finding lost arrows, but identifies the
+owner. This entire portion he usually smeared with thin glue or sizing.
+
+A number of shafts having been similarly prepared, the Indian was ready
+to feather them. A feather he called _pu nee_. In fledging arrows Ishi
+used eagle, buzzard, hawk or flicker feathers. Owl feathers Indians
+seem to avoid, thinking they bring bad luck. By preference he took them
+from the wings, but did not hesitate to use tail feathers if reduced to
+it. With us he used turkey pinions.
+
+Grasping one between the heel of his two palms he carefully separated
+the bristles at the tip of the feather with his fingers and pulled them
+apart, splitting the quill its entire length. This is called stripping
+a feather. Taking the wider half he firmly held one end on a rock with
+his great toe, and the other end between the thumb and forefinger of
+his left hand. With a piece of obsidian, or later on a knife blade, he
+scraped away the pith until the rib was thin and flat.
+
+Having prepared a sufficient number in this way he gathered them in
+groups of three, all from similar wings, tied them with a bit of string
+and dropped them in a vessel of water. When thoroughly wet and limp
+they were ready for use.
+
+While he chewed up a strand of sinew eight or ten inches long, he
+picked up a group of feathers, stripped off the water, removed one, and
+after testing its strength, folded the last two inches of bristles down
+on the rib, and the rest he ruffled backward, thus leaving a free space
+for later binding. He prepared all three like this.
+
+Picking up an arrow shaft he clamped it between his left arm and chest,
+holding the rear end above the shaftment in his left hand. Twirling it
+slowly in this position, he applied one end of the sinew near the nock,
+fixing it by overlapping. The first movements were accomplished while
+holding one extremity of the sinew in his teeth; later, having applied
+the feathers to the stick, he shifted the sinew to the grasp of the
+right thumb and forefinger.
+
+One by one he laid the feathers in position, binding down the last two
+inches of stem and the wet barbs together. The first feather he applied
+on a line perpendicular to the plane of the nock; the two others were
+equidistant from this. For the space of an inch he lapped the sinew
+about the feathers and arrow-shaft, slowly rotating it all the while, at
+last smoothing the binding with his thumb nail.
+
+The rear ends having been lashed in position, the arrow was set aside
+to dry while the rest were prepared.
+
+Five or ten having reached this stage and the binding being dry and
+secure, he took one again between his left arm and chest, and with his
+right hand drew all the feathers straight and taut, down the shaft.
+Here he held them with the fingers of his left hand. Having marked a
+similar place on each arrow where the sinew was to go, he cut the
+bristles off the rib. At this point he started binding with another
+piece of wet sinew. After a few turns he drew the feathers taut again
+and cut them, leaving about a half inch of rib. This he bound down
+completely to the arrow-shaft and finished all by smoothing the wet
+lapping with his thumb nail.
+
+The space between the rib and the wood he sometimes smeared with more
+glue to cause the feather to adhere to the shaft, but this was not the
+usual custom with him. After all was dry and firm, Ishi took the arrow
+and beat it gently across his palm so that the feathers spread out
+nicely.
+
+As a rule the length of his feathers was four inches, though on
+ceremonial arrows they often were as long as eight inches.
+
+After drying, the feathers were cut with a sharp piece of obsidian,
+using a straight stick as a guide and laying the arrow on a flat piece
+of wood. When with us he trimmed them with scissors, making a straight
+cut from the full width of the feather in back, to the height of a
+quarter of an inch at the forward extremity. On his arrows he left the
+natural curve of the feather at the nock, and while the rear binding
+started an inch or more from the butt of the arrow, the feather drooped
+over the nock. This gave a pretty effect and seemed to add to the
+steering qualities of the missile.
+
+Two kinds of points were used on Ishi's arrows. One was the simple
+blunt end of the shaft bound with sinew used for killing small game and
+practice shots. The other was his hunting head, made of flint or
+obsidian. He preferred the latter.
+
+Obsidian was used as money among the natives of California. A boulder
+of this volcanic glass was packed from some mountainous districts and
+pieces were cracked off and exchanged for dried fish, venison, or
+weapons. It was a medium of barter. Although all men were more or less
+expert in flaking arrowheads and knives, the better grades of bows,
+arrows, and arrow points were made by the older, more expert
+specialists of the tribe.
+
+Ishi often referred to one old Indian, named _Chu no wa yahi_, who
+lived at the base of a great cliff with his crazy wife. This man owned
+an ax, and thus was famous for his possessions as well as his skill as
+a maker of bows. From a distant mountain crest one day Ishi pointed out
+to me the camp of this Indian who was long since dead. If ever Ishi
+wished to refer to a hero of the bow, or having been beaten in a shot,
+he always told us what _Chu no wa yahi_ could have done.
+
+To make arrowheads properly one should smear his face with mud and sit
+out in the hot sun in a quiet secluded spot. The mud is a precaution
+against harm from the flying chips of glass, possibly also a good luck
+ritual. If by chance a bit of glass should fly in the eye, Ishi's
+method of surgical relief was to hold his lower lid wide open with one
+finger while he slapped himself violently on the head with the other
+hand. I am inclined to ascribe the process of removal more to the
+hydraulic effect of the tears thus started than to the mechanical jar
+of the treatment.
+
+He began this work by taking one chunk of obsidian and throwing it
+against another; several small pieces were thus shattered off. One of
+these, approximately three inches long, two inches wide and half an
+inch thick, was selected as suitable for an arrowhead, or _haka_.
+Protecting the palm of his left hand by a piece of thick buckskin, Ishi
+placed a piece of obsidian flat upon it, holding it firmly with his
+fingers folded over it.
+
+In his right hand he held a short stick on the end of which was lashed
+a sharp piece of deer horn. Grasping the horn firmly while the longer
+extremity lay beneath his forearm, he pressed the point of the horn
+against the edge of the obsidian. Without jar or blow, a flake of glass
+flew off, as large as a fish scale. Repeating this process at various
+spots on the intended head, turning it from side to side, first
+reducing one face, then the other, he soon had a symmetrical point. In
+half an hour he could make the most graceful and perfectly proportioned
+arrowhead imaginable. The little notches fashioned to hold the sinew
+binding below the barbs he shaped with a smaller piece of bone, while
+the arrowhead was held on the ball of his thumb.
+
+Flint, plate glass, old bottle glass, onyx--all could be worked with
+equal facility. Beautiful heads were fashioned from blue bottles and
+beer bottles.
+
+The general size of these points was two inches for length,
+seven-eighths for width, and one-eighth for thickness. Larger heads
+were used for war and smaller ones for shooting bears.
+
+Such a head, of course, was easily broken if the archer missed his
+shot. This made him very careful about the whole affair of shooting.
+
+When ready for use, these heads were set on the end of the shaft with
+heated resin and bound in place with sinew which encircled the end of
+the arrow and crossed diagonally through the barb notches with many
+recurrences.
+
+Such a point has better cutting qualities in animal tissue than has
+steel. The latter is, of course, more durable. After entering
+civilization, Ishi preferred to use iron or steel blades of the same
+general shape, or having a short tang for insertion in the arrowhead.
+
+Ishi carried anywhere from five to sixty arrows in a quiver made of
+otter skin which hung suspended by a loop of buckskin over his left
+shoulder.
+
+His method of bracing or stringing the bow was as follows: Grasping it
+with his right hand at its center, with the belly toward him, and the
+lower end on his right thigh, he held the upper end with his left hand
+while the loop of the string rested between his finger and thumb. By
+pressing downward at the handle and pulling upward with the left hand
+he so sprung the bow that the loop of the cord could be slipped over
+the upper nock.
+
+[Illustration: ISHI AND APPERSON, THE GUIDE, ONCE OLD ENEMIES, NOW
+FRIENDS]
+
+[Illustration: CALLING GAME IN AMBUSH]
+
+[Illustration: THE INDIAN'S FAVORITE SHOOTING POSITION]
+
+[Illustration: CHOPPING OUT A JUNIPER BOW]
+
+In nocking his arrow, the bow was held diagonally across the body, its
+upper end pointing to the left. It was held lightly in the palm of the
+left hand so that it rested loosely in the notch of the thumb while the
+fingers partially surrounded the handle. Taking an arrow from his
+quiver, he laid it across the bow on its right side where it lay
+between the extended fingers of his left hand. He gently slid the arrow
+forward until the nock slipped over the string at its center. Here he
+set it properly in place and put his right thumb under the string,
+hooked upward ready to pull. At the same time he flexed his forefinger
+against the side of the arrow, and the second finger was placed on the
+thumb nail to strengthen the pull.
+
+Thus he accomplished what is known as the Mongolian release.
+
+Only a few nations ever used this type of arrow release, and the Yana
+seem to have been the only American natives to do so. [2]
+[Footnote 2: See Morse on _Arrow Release_.]
+
+To draw his bow he extended his left arm. At the same time he pulled
+his right hand toward him. The bow arm was almost in front of him,
+while his right hand drew to the top of his breast bone. With both eyes
+open he sighted along his shaft and estimated the elevation according
+to the distance to be shot.
+
+He released firmly and without change of position until the arrow hit.
+He preferred to shoot kneeling or squatting, for this was most
+favorable for getting game.
+
+His shooting distances were from ten yards up to fifty. Past this range
+he did not think one should shoot, but sought rather to approach his
+game more closely.
+
+In his native state he practiced shooting at little oak balls, or
+bundles of grass bound to represent rabbits, or little hoops of willow
+rolled along the ground. Like all other archers, if Ishi missed a shot
+he always had a good excuse. There was too much wind, or the arrow was
+crooked, or the bow had lost its cast, or, as a last resource, the
+coyote doctor bewitched him, which is the same thing we mean when we
+say it is just bad luck. While with us he shot at the regulation straw
+target, and he is the first and only Indian of whose shooting any
+accurate records have been made.
+
+Many exaggerated reports exist concerning the accuracy of the shooting
+of American Indians; but here we have one who shot ever since
+childhood, who lived by hunting, and must have been as good, if not
+better, than the average.
+
+He taught us to shoot Indian style at first, but later we learned the
+old English methods and found them superior to the Indian. At the end
+of three months' practice, Dr. J. V. Cooke and I could shoot as well as
+Ishi at targets, but he could surpass us at game shooting.
+
+Ishi never thought very much of our long bows. He always said, "Too
+much _man-nee_." And he always insisted that arrows should be painted
+red and green.
+
+But when we began beating him at targets, he took all his shafts home
+and scraped the paint off them, putting back rings of blue and yellow,
+doubtless to change his luck. In spite of our apparent superiority at
+some forms of shooting, he never changed his methods to meet
+competition. We, of course, did not want him to.
+
+Small objects the size of a quail the Indian could hit with regularity
+up to twenty yards. And I have seen him kill ground squirrels at forty
+yards; yet at the same distances he might miss a four-foot target. He
+explained this by saying that the target was too large and the bright
+colored rings diverted the attention. He was right.
+
+There is a regular system of shooting in archery competition. In
+America there is what is known as the American Round, which consists of
+shooting thirty arrows at each of the following distances: sixty,
+fifty, and forty yards. The bull's-eye on the target is a trifle over
+nine inches and is surrounded by four rings of half this diameter.
+Their value is 9, 7, 5, 3, 1, successively counting from the center
+outward. The target itself is constructed of straw, bound in the form
+of a mat four feet in diameter, covered with a canvas facing.
+
+Counting the hits and scores on the various distances, a good archer
+will make the following record. Here is Arthur Young's best score:
+
+March 25, 1917.
+
+At 60 yards        30 hits    190 score    11 golds
+   50 yards        30 hits    198 score     9 golds
+   40 yards        30 hits    238 score    17 golds
+
+   Total           90 hits    626 score    37 golds
+
+This is one of the best scores made by American archers.
+
+Ishi's best record is as follows:
+
+October 23, 1914.
+
+At 60 yards        10 hits     32 score
+   50 yards        20 hits     92 score     2 golds
+   40 yards        19 hits     99 score     2 golds
+
+   Total           49 hits    223 score     4 golds
+
+His next best score was this:
+
+At 60 yards        13 hits     51 score
+   50 yards        17 hits     59 score
+   40 yards        22 hits     95 score
+
+   Total           52 hits    205 score
+
+My own best practice American round is as follows:
+
+May 22, 1917.
+
+At 60 yards        29 hits    157 score
+   50 yards        29 hits    185 score
+   40 yards        30 hits    196 score
+
+   Total           88 hits    538 score
+
+Anything over 500 is considered good shooting.
+
+It will be seen from this that the Indian was not a good target shot,
+but in field shooting and getting game, probably he could excel the
+white man.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+
+ISHI'S METHODS OF HUNTING
+
+
+Hunting with Ishi was pure joy. Bow in hand, he seemed to be
+transformed into a being light as air and as silent as falling snow.
+From the very first we went on little expeditions into the country
+where, without appearing to instruct, he was my teacher in the old, old
+art of the chase. I followed him into a new system of getting game. We
+shot rabbits, quail, and squirrels with the bow. His methods here were
+not so well defined as in the approach to larger game, but I was struck
+from the first by his noiseless step, his slow movements, his use of
+cover. These little animals are flushed by sound and sight, not scent.
+Another prominent feature of Ishi's work in the field was his
+indefatigable persistence. He never gave up when he knew a rabbit was
+in a clump of brush. Time meant nothing to him; he simply stayed until
+he got his game. He would watch a squirrel hole for an hour if
+necessary, but he always got the squirrel.
+
+He made great use of the game call. We all know of duck and turkey
+calls, but when he told me that he lured rabbits, tree squirrels,
+wildcats, coyote, and bear to him, I thought he was romancing. Going
+along the trail, he would stop and say, "_Ineja teway--bjum--metchi bi
+wi_," or "This is good rabbit ground." Then crouching behind a suitable
+bush as a blind, he would place the fingers of his right hand against
+his lips and, going through the act of kissing, he produced a plaintive
+squeak similar to that given by a rabbit caught by a hawk or in mortal
+distress. This he repeated with heartrending appeals until suddenly one
+or two or sometimes three rabbits appeared in the opening. They came
+from distances of a hundred yards or more, hopped forward, stopped and
+listened, hopped again, listened, and ultimately came within ten or
+fifteen yards while Ishi dragged out his squeak in a most pathetic
+manner. Then he would shoot.
+
+To test his ability one afternoon while hunting deer, I asked the Yana
+to try his call in twelve separate locations. From these twelve calls
+we had five jackrabbits and one wildcat approach us. The cat came out
+of the forest, cautiously stepped nearer and sat upon a log in a bright
+open space not more than fifty yards away while I shot three arrows at
+him, one after the other; the last clipped him between the ears.
+
+This call being a cry of distress, rabbits and squirrels come with the
+idea of protecting their young. They run around in a circle, stamp
+their feet, and make great demonstrations of anger, probably as much to
+attract the attention of the supposed predatory beast and decoy him
+away, as anything else.
+
+The cat, the coyote, and the bear come for no such humane motive; they
+are thinking of food, of joining the feast.
+
+I learned the call myself, not perfectly, but well enough to bring
+squirrels down from the topmost branches of tall pines, to have foxes
+and lynx approach me, and to get rabbits.
+
+Not only could Ishi call the animals, but he understood their language.
+Often when we have been hunting he has stopped and said, "The squirrel
+is scolding a fox." At first I said to him, "I don't believe you." Then
+he would say, "Wait! Look!" Hiding behind a tree or rock or bush, in a
+few minutes we would see a fox trot across the open forest.
+
+It seemed that for a hawk or cat or man, the squirrel has a different
+call, such that Ishi could say without seeing, what molested his little
+brother.
+
+Often have we stopped and rested because, so he said, a bluejay called
+far and wide, "Here comes a man!" There was no use going farther, the
+animals all knew of our presence. Only a white hunter would advance
+under these circumstances.
+
+Ishi could smell deer, cougar, and foxes like an animal, and often
+discovered them first this way. He could imitate the call of quail to
+such an extent that he spoke a half-dozen sentences to them. He knew
+the crow of the cock on sentinel duty when he signals to others; he
+knew the cry of warning, and the run-to-shelter cry of the hen; her
+command to her little ones to fly; and the "lie low" cluck; then at
+last the "all's well" chirp.
+
+Deer he could call in the fawn season by placing a folded leaf between
+his lips and sucking vigorously. This made a bleat such as a lamb
+gives, or a boy makes blowing on a blade of grass between his thumbs.
+
+He also enticed deer by means of a stuffed buck's head which he wore as
+a cap, and bobbing up and down behind bushes excited their curiosity
+until they approached within bow-shot. Ordinarily in hunting deer, the
+Indian used what is termed the still hunt, but with him it was more
+than that. First of all he studied the country for its formation of
+hills, ridges, valleys, canyons, brush and timber. He observed the
+direction of the prevailing winds, the position of the sun at daybreak
+and evening. He noted the water holes, game trails, "buck look-outs,"
+deer beds, the nature of the feeding grounds, the stage of the moon,
+the presence of salt licks, and many other features of importance. If
+possible, he located the hiding-place of the old bucks in daytime, all
+of which every careful hunter does. Next, he observed the habits of
+game, and the presence or absence of predatory beasts that kill deer.
+
+Having decided these and other questions, he prepared for the hunt. He
+would eat no fish the day before the hunt, and smoke no tobacco, for
+these odors are detected a great way off. He rose early, bathed in the
+creek, rubbed himself with the aromatic leaves of yerba buena, washed
+out his mouth, drank water, but ate no food. Dressed in a loin cloth,
+but without shirt, leggings or moccasins, he set out, bow and quiver at
+his side. He said that clothing made too much noise in the brush, and
+naturally one is more cautious in his movements when reminded by his
+sensitive hide that he is touching a sharp twig.
+
+From the very edge of camp, until he returned, he was on the alert for
+game, and the one obvious element of his mental attitude was that he
+suspected game everywhere. He saw a hundred objects that looked like
+deer, to every live animal in reality. He took it for granted that ten
+deer see you where you see one--so see it first! On the trail, it was a
+crime to speak. His warning note was a soft, low whistle or a hiss. As
+he walked, he placed every footfall with precise care; the most
+stealthy step I ever saw; he was used to it; lived by it. For every
+step he looked twice. When going over a rise of ground he either
+stooped, crawled or let just his eyes go over the top, then stopped and
+gazed a long time for the slightest moving twig or spot of color. Of
+course, he always hunted up wind, unless he were cutting across country
+or intended to flush game.
+
+At sunrise and sunset he tried always to get between the sun and his
+game. He drifted between the trees like a shadow, expectant and nerved
+for immediate action.
+
+Some Indians, covering their heads with tall grass, can creep up on
+deer in the open, and rising suddenly to a kneeling posture shoot at a
+distance of ten or fifteen yards. But Ishi never tried this before me.
+Having located his quarry, he either shot, at suitable ranges, or made
+a detour to wait the passing of the game or to approach it from a more
+favorable direction. He never used dogs in hunting.
+
+When a number of people hunted together, Ishi would hide behind a blind
+at the side of a deer trail and let the others run the deer past. In
+his country we saw old piles of rock covered with lichen and moss that
+were less than twenty yards from well-marked deer trails. For
+numberless years Indians had used these as blinds to secure camp meat.
+
+In the same necessity, the Indian would lie in wait near licks or
+springs to get his food; but he never killed wantonly.
+
+Although Ishi took me on many deer hunts and we had several shots at
+deer, owing to the distance or the fall of the ground or obstructing
+trees, we registered nothing better than encouraging misses. He was
+undoubtedly hampered by the presence of a novice, and unduly hastened
+by the white man's lack of time. His early death prevented our ultimate
+achievement in this matter, so it was only after he had gone to the
+Happy Hunting Grounds that I, profiting by his teachings, killed my
+first deer with the bow.
+
+That he had shot many deer, even since boyhood, there was no doubt. To
+prove that he could shoot through one with his arrows, I had him
+discharge several at a buck killed by our packer. Shooting at forty
+yards, one arrow went through the chest wall, half its length; another
+struck the spine and fractured it, both being mortal wounds.
+
+It was the custom of his tribe to hunt until noon, when by that time
+they usually had several deer, obtained, as a rule, by the ambush
+method. Having pre-arranged the matter, the women appeared on the
+scene, cut up the meat, cooked part of it, principally the liver and
+heart, and they had a feast on the spot. The rest was taken to camp and
+made into jerky.
+
+In skinning animals, the Indian used an obsidian knife held in his hand
+by a piece of buckskin. I found this cut better than the average
+hunting knife sold to sportsmen. Often in skinning rabbits he would
+make a small hole in the skin over the abdomen and blow into this,
+stripping the integument free from the body and inflating it like a
+football, except at the legs.
+
+In skinning the tail of an animal, he used a split stick to strip it
+down, and did it so dextrously that it was a revelation of how easy
+this otherwise difficult process may be when one knows how. He tanned
+his skins in the way customary with most savages: clean skinning, brain
+emulsion, and plenty of elbow grease.
+
+[Illustration: OUR CARAVAN LEAVING DEER CREEK CANYON]
+
+[Illustration: ISHI FLAKING AN OBSIDIAN ARROW HEAD]
+
+[Illustration: THE INDIAN AND A DEER]
+
+His people killed bear with the bow and arrow. Ishi made a distinction
+between grizzly bear, which he called _tet na_, and black bear, which
+he called _bo he_. The former had long claws, could not climb trees,
+and feared nothing. He was to be let alone. The other was "all same
+pig." The black bear, when found, was surrounded by a dozen or more
+Indians who built fires, and discharging their arrows at his open
+mouth, attempted to kill him. If he charged, a burning brand was
+snatched from the fire and thrust in his face while the others shot him
+from the side. Thus they wore him down and at last vanquished him.
+
+In his youth, Ishi killed a cinnamon bear single handed. Finding it
+asleep on a ledge of rock, he sneaked close to it and gave a loud
+whistle. The bear rose up on its hind legs and Ishi shot him through
+the chest. With a roar the bear fell off the ledge and the Indian
+jumped after him. With a short-handled obsidian spear he thrust him
+through the heart. The skin of this bear now hangs in the Museum of
+Anthropology in mute testimony of the courage and daring of Ishi. Had
+this young man been given a name, perhaps they would have called him
+Yellow Bear.
+
+While he shot many birds, I never saw Ishi try wing shooting except at
+eagles or hawks. For these he would use an arrow on which he had
+smeared mud to make it dark in color. A light shaft is readily
+discerned by these birds, and I have often seen them dodge an arrow.
+But the darker one is almost invisible head on. The feathers of the
+arrows were close cropped to make them swift and noiseless.
+
+The sound of a bowstring is that of a sharp twang accompanied by a
+muffled crack. To avoid this and make a silent shot, the Indian bound
+his bow at the nocks with weasel fur; this effectually damped the
+vibration of the string, while the passage of the arrow across the bow,
+which gives the slight crack, is abolished by a heavy padding of
+buckskin at this point.
+
+Ishi never wore an arm guard or glove or finger stalls to protect
+himself as other archers do. He seemed not to need them. When he
+released the arrow, the bow rotated in his hand so that the string
+faced in the opposite direction from which it started. His thumb alone
+drew the string, and this was so toughened that it needed no leather
+covering.
+
+In a little bag he carried extra arrowheads and sinews, so that in a
+pinch he could mend his arrows.
+
+When not actually in use, he promptly unstrung his bow, and gently
+straightened it by hand. In cold weather he heated it over a fire
+before bracing it. The slightest moisture would deter him from
+shooting, unless absolutely necessary--he was so jealous of his tackle.
+If his bowstring stretched in the heat or dampness, as sinew is liable
+to do, he shortened it by twisting one end prior to bracing it.
+
+Before shooting he invariably looked over each arrow, straightened it
+in his hands or by his teeth, re-arranged its feathers, and saw that
+the point was properly adjusted. In fact, he gave infinite attention to
+detail. With him, every shot must count. Besides arrows in his quiver,
+he carried several ready for use under his right arm, which he kept
+close to his side while drawing the bow.
+
+In all things pertaining to the handicraft of archery and the technique
+of shooting, he was most exacting. Neatness about his tackle, care of
+his equipment, deliberation and form in his shooting were typical of
+him; in fact, he loved his bow as he did no other of his possessions.
+It was his constant companion in life and he took it with him on his
+last long journey.
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+
+ARCHERY IN GENERAL
+
+
+Our experience with Ishi waked the love of archery in us, that impulse
+which lies dormant in the heart of every Anglo-Saxon. For it is a
+strange thing that all the men who have centered about this renaissance
+in shooting the bow, in our immediate locality, are of English
+ancestry. Their names betray them. Many have come and watched and shot
+a little, and gone away; but these have stayed to hunt.
+
+From shooting the bow Indian fashion, I turned to the study of its
+history, and soon found that the English were its greatest masters. In
+them archery reached its high tide; after them its glory passed.
+
+But the earliest evidence of the use of the bow is found in the
+existence of arrowheads assigned to the third interglacial period,
+nearly 50,000 years ago.
+
+That man had material culture prior to this epoch, there is no doubt,
+and the use of the bow with arrows of less complicated structure must
+have preceded this period.
+
+All races and nations at one time or another have used the bow. Even
+the Australian aborigine, who is supposed to have been too low in
+mental development to have understood the principles of archery, used a
+miniature bow and poisoned arrow in shooting game. In the magnificent
+collection of Joseph Jessop of San Diego, California, I saw one of
+these little bows scarcely more than a foot long. The arrows, he
+stated, the natives carried in the hair of their heads.
+
+Those who are interested in the archaeology of the bow should read the
+volume on archery of the Badminton Library by Longmans.
+
+Various peoples have excelled in shooting, notably the Japanese, the
+Turks, the Scythians, and the English. Others have not been suited by
+temperament to use the bow. The Latins, the Peruvians, and the Irish
+seem never to have been toxophilites. The famous long bow of Merrie Old
+England was brought there by the Normans, who inherited it from the
+Norsemen settled along the Rhine. Here grew the best yew trees in days
+gone by, and this, doubtless, was a strong determining factor in the
+superior development of their archery.
+
+Before the battle of Hastings, the Saxons used the short, weak weapon
+common to all primitive people. The conquered Saxon, deprived of all
+arms such as the boar-spear, the sword, the ax, and the dagger,
+naturally turned to the bow because he could make this himself, and he
+copied the Norman long bow.
+
+Although the first game preserves in England were established by
+William the Conqueror at this time, the Saxon was permitted to shoot
+birds and small beasts in his fields and therefore was allowed to use a
+blunt arrow, headed with a lead tip or pilum, hence our term pile, or
+target point. If found with a sharp arrowhead, the so-called broad-head
+used for killing the king's deer, he was promptly hanged. The evidence
+against such a poacher was summed up thus in the old legend:
+
+  Dog draw, stable stand
+  Back berond, bloody hand.
+
+One found following a questing hound, posed in the stand of an archer,
+carrying game on his back, or with the evidence of recent butchery on
+his hands, was hanged to the nearest tree by his own bowstring.
+
+It was under these circumstances that outlawry took the form of deer
+killing and robust archery became the national sport. In these days the
+legendary hero, the demi-myth, Robin Hood, was born. What boy has not
+thrilled at the tales of Greenwood men, the well-sped shaft, the
+arrow's low whispering flight, and the willow wand split at a hundred
+paces?
+
+Every boy goes through a period of barbarism, just as the nations have
+passed, and during that age he is stirred by the call of the bow. I,
+too, shot the toy bows of boyhood; shot with Indian youths in the Army
+posts of Texas and Arizona. We played the impromptu pageants of Robin
+Hood, manufactured our own tackle, and carried it about with unfailing
+fidelity; hunted small birds and rabbits, and were the usual savages of
+that age.
+
+But when it comes to the legends of the bow, the records of these past
+glories are so vague that we must accept them as a tale oft told; it
+grows with the telling.
+
+It seems that distances were measured in feet, paces, yards, or rods
+with blithe indifference, and the narrator added to them at will. Robin
+is supposed to have shot a mile, and his bow was so long and so strong
+no man could draw it. In sooth, he was a mighty hero, and yet the
+ballads refer to him as a "slight fellow," even "a bag of bones." As a
+youth he slew the king's deer at three hundred yards, a right goodly
+shot! And no doubt it was.
+
+Of all the bows of the days when archery was in flower, only two
+remain. These are unfinished staves found in the ship _Mary Rose_, sunk
+off the coast of Albion in 1545. This vessel having been raised from
+the bottom of the ocean in 1841, the staves were recovered and are now
+in the Tower of London. They are six feet, four and three-quarters
+inches long, one and one-half inches across the handle, one and one-
+quarter inches thick, and proportionately large throughout. The
+dimensions are recorded in Badminton. Of course, they never have been
+tested for strength, but it has been estimated at 100 pounds.
+
+Determined to duplicate these old bows, I selected a very fine grained
+stave of seasoned yew and made an exact duplicate, according to the
+recorded measurements.
+
+This bow, when drawn the standard arrow length of twenty-eight inches,
+weighed sixty-five pounds and shot a light flight arrow two hundred and
+twenty-five yards. When drawn thirty-six inches, it weighed seventy-six
+pounds and shot a flight arrow two hundred and fifty-six yards. From
+this it would seem that even though these ancient staves appear to be
+almost too powerful for a modern man to draw, they not only are well
+within our command, but do not shoot a mile.
+
+The greatest distance shot by a modern archer was made by Ingo Simon,
+using a Turkish composite bow, in France in 1913. The measured distance
+was four hundred and fifty-nine yards and eight inches. That is very
+near the limit of this type of bow and far beyond the possibilities of
+the yew long bow. But the long bow is capable of shooting heavier
+shafts and shooting them harder.
+
+Since archery is fast disappearing from the land, and the material for
+study will soon become extinct, I have undertaken to record the
+strength and shooting qualities of a representative number of the
+available bows in preservation, together with the power of penetration
+of arrows.
+
+To do this, through the mediation of the Department of Anthropology of
+the University of California, I have had access to the best collection
+of bows in America. Thousands of weapons were at my disposal in various
+museums, and from these I selected the best preserved and strongest to
+shoot.
+
+The formal report of these experiments is in the publications of the
+University, and here 'tis only necessary to mention a few of the
+findings.
+
+In testing the function of these bows and their ability to shoot, a
+bamboo flight arrow made by Ishi was used as the standard. It was
+thirty inches long, weighed three hundred and ten grains, and had very
+low cropped feathers. It carried universally better than all other
+arrows tested, and flew twenty per cent farther than the best English
+flight arrows.
+
+To make sure that no element of personal weakness entered into the
+test, I had these bows shot by Mr. Compton, a very powerful man and one
+used to the bow for thirty years. I myself could draw them all, and
+checked up the results.
+
+It is axiomatic that the weight and the cast of a bow are criteria of
+its value as a weapon in war or in the chase. Weight, as used by an
+archer, means the pull of a bow when full drawn, recorded in pounds.
+
+The following is a partial list of those weighed and shot. They are, of
+course, all genuine bows and represent the strongest. Each was shot at
+least six times over a carefully measured course and the greatest
+flight recorded. All flights were made at an elevation of forty-five
+degrees and the greatest possible draw was given each shot. In fact we
+spared no bows because of their age, and consequently broke two in the
+testing.
+
+                                 Weight     Distance Shot
+    Alaskan....................... 80 pounds    180 yards
+    Apache........................ 28  "        120  "
+    Blackfoot..................... 45  "        145  "
+    Cheyenne...................... 65  "        156  "
+    Cree.......................... 38  "        150  "
+    Esquimaux..................... 80  "        200  "
+    Hupa.......................... 40  "        148  "
+    Luiseno....................... 48  "        125  "
+    Navajo........................ 45  "        150  "
+    Mojave........................ 40  "        110  "
+    Osage......................... 40  "         92  "
+    Sioux......................... 45  "        165  "
+    Tomawata...................... 40  "        148  "
+    Yurok......................... 30  "        140  "
+    Yukon......................... 60  "        125  "
+    Yaki.......................... 70  "        210  "
+    Yana.......................... 48  "        205  "
+
+The list of foreign bows is as follows:
+
+                                   Weight     Distance Shot
+    Paraguay...................... 60 pounds    170 yards
+    Polynesian.................... 49  "        172  "
+    Nigrito....................... 56  "        176  "
+    Andaman Islands................45  "        142  "
+    Japanese.......................48  "        175  "
+    Africa.........................54  "        107  "
+    Tartar.........................98  "        175  "
+    South American.................50  "         98  "
+    Igorrote.......................26  "        100  "
+    Solomon Islands................56  "        148  "
+    English target bow (imported)..48  "        220  "
+    English yew flight bow.........65  "        300  "
+    Old English hunting bow........75  "        250  "
+
+
+It will be seen from these tests that no existing aboriginal bow is
+very powerful when compared with those in use in the days of robust
+archery in old England.
+
+The greatest disappointment was in the Tartar bow which was brought
+expressly from Shansi, China, by my brother, Col. B. H. Pope. With this
+powerful weapon I expected to shoot a quarter of a mile; but with all
+its dreadful strength, its cast was slow and cumbersome. The arrow that
+came with it, a miniature javelin thirty-eight inches long, could only
+be projected one hundred and ten yards. In making these shots both
+hands and feet were used to draw the bow. A special flight arrow
+thirty-six inches long was used in the test, but with hardly any
+increase of distance gained.
+
+After much experimenting and research into the literature, [1]
+[Footnote 1: Balfour, _Composite Bows_.]
+I constructed two horn composite bows, such as were used by the Turks
+and Egyptians. They were perfect in action, the larger one weighing
+eighty-five pounds. With this I hoped to establish a record, but after
+many attempts my best flight was two hundred and ninety-one yards. This
+weapon, being only four feet long, would make an excellent buffalo bow
+to be used on horseback.
+
+In shooting for distance, of course, a very light missile is used, and
+nothing but empirical tests can determine the shape, size, and weight
+that suits each bow. Consequently, we use hundreds of arrows to find
+the best. For more than seven years these experiments have continued,
+and at this stage of our progress the best flight arrow is made of
+Japanese bamboo five-sixteenths of an inch in diameter, having a
+foreshaft of birch the same diameter and four inches long. The nock is
+a boxwood plug inserted in the rear end, both joints being bound with
+silk floss and shellacked. The point is the copper nickel jacket of the
+present U. S. Army rifle bullet, of conical shape. The feathers are
+parabolic, three-quarters of an inch long by one-quarter high, three in
+number, set one inch from the end, and come from the wing of an owl.
+The whole arrow is thirty inches long, weighs three hundred and twenty
+grains, and is very rigid.
+
+With this I have shot three hundred and one yards with a moderate wind
+at my back, using a Paraguay ironwood bow five feet two inches long,
+backed with hickory and weighing sixty pounds. This is my best flight
+shot.
+
+It is not advisable here to go further into this subject; let it stand
+that the English yew long bow is the highest type of artillery in the
+world.
+
+Although the composite Turkish bows can shoot the farthest, it is only
+with very light arrows; they are incapable of projecting heavier shafts
+to the extent of the yew long bow, that is, they can transmit velocity
+but not momentum; they have resiliency, but not power.
+
+Besides these experiments with bows, many tests were made of the flight
+and penetration of arrows. A few of the pertinent observations are here
+noted.
+
+A light arrow from a heavy bow, say a sixty-five pound yew bow, travels
+at an initial velocity of one hundred and fifty feet per second, as
+determined by a stopwatch.
+
+Shooting at one hundred yards, such an arrow is discharged at an angle
+of eight degrees, and describes a parabola twelve to fifteen feet high
+at its crest. Its time in transit is of approximately two and one-fifth
+seconds.
+
+Shooting straight up, such an arrow goes about three hundred and fifty
+feet high, and requires eight seconds for the round trip. This test was
+made by shooting arrows over very tall sequoia trees, of known height.
+
+The striking force of a one-ounce arrow shot from a seventy-five pound
+bow at ten yards, is twenty-five foot pounds. This test is made by
+shooting at a cake of paraffin and comparing the penetration with that
+made by falling weights. Such a striking force is, of course,
+insignificant when compared with that of a modern bullet, viz., three
+thousand foot pounds. Yet the damage done by an arrow armed with a
+sharp steel broad-head is often greater than that done by a bullet, as
+we shall see later on.
+
+A standard English target arrow rotates during flight six complete
+revolutions every twenty yards, or approximately fifteen times a
+second. Heavy hunting shafts turn more slowly. This was ascertained by
+shooting two arrows at once from the same bow, their shafts being
+connected by a silk thread, so that one paid off as the other wound up
+the thread. The number of complete loops, of course, indicated the
+number of revolutions. A sand-bank makes a good butt to catch them. In
+rotating, much depends on the size and shape of the feather.
+
+Shooting a blunt arrow from a seventy-five pound bow at a white pine
+board an inch thick, the shaft will often go completely through it. A
+broad hunting head will penetrate two or three inches, then bind. But
+the broad-head will go through animal tissue better, even cutting bones
+in two; in fact, such an arrow will go completely through any animal
+but a pachyderm.
+
+To test a steel bodkin pointed arrow such as was used at the battle of
+Cressy, I borrowed a shirt of chain armor from the Museum, a beautiful
+specimen made in Damascus in the 15th Century. It weighed twenty-five
+pounds and was in perfect condition. One of the attendants in the
+Museum offered to put it on and allow me to shoot at him. Fortunately,
+I declined his proffered services and put it on a wooden box, padded
+with burlap to represent clothing.
+
+Indoors at a distance of seven yards, I discharged an arrow at it with
+such force that sparks flew from the links of steel as from a forge.
+The bodkin point and shaft went through the thickest portion of the
+back, penetrated an inch of wood and bulged out the opposite side of
+the armor shirt. The attendant turned a pale green. An arrow of this
+type can be shot about two hundred yards, and would be deadly up to the
+full limit of its flight.
+
+The question of the cutting qualities of the obsidian head as compared
+to those of the sharpened steel head, was answered in the following
+experiment:
+
+A box was so constructed that two opposite sides were formed by fresh
+deer skin tacked in place. The interior of the box was filled with
+bovine liver. This represented animal tissue minus the bones.
+
+At a distance of ten yards I discharged an obsidian-pointed arrow and a
+steel-pointed arrow from a weak bow. The two missiles were alike in
+size, weight, and feathering, in fact, were made by Ishi, only one had
+the native head and the other his modern substitute. Upon repeated
+trials, the steel-headed arrow uniformly penetrated a distance of
+twenty-two inches from the front surface of the box, while the obsidian
+uniformly penetrated thirty inches, or eight inches farther,
+approximately 25 per cent better penetration. This advantage is
+undoubtedly due to the concoidal edge of the flaked glass operating
+upon the same principle that fluted-edged bread and bandage knives cut
+better than ordinary knives.
+
+In the same way we discovered that steel broad-heads sharpened by
+filing have a better meat-cutting edge than when ground on a stone.
+
+In our experience with game shooting, we never could see the advantage
+of longitudinal grooves running down the shaft of the arrow, such as
+some aborigines use, supposed to promote bleeding. In the first place
+these marks are inadequate in depth, and secondly it is not the
+exterior bleeding that kills the wounded animal so much as the internal
+hemorrhage.
+
+A sufficiently wide head on the arrow cuts a hole large enough to
+permit the escape of excess blood, and, as a matter of fact, nearly all
+of our shots are perforating, going completely through the body.
+
+Conical, blunt, and bodkin points lack the power of penetration in
+animal tissue inherent in broad-heads; correspondingly they do less
+damage.
+
+[Illustration (up-left): THREE TYPES OF HUNTING ARROWS]
+
+[Illustration (up-right): A BLUNT ARROW SHOT THROUGH AN INCH BOARD]
+
+[Illustration (down-left): "BRER" FOX UP A TREE]
+
+[Illustration (down-right): ART YOUNG SHOOTS FISH]
+
+Catlin, in his book on the North American Indian, relates that the
+Mandans, among other tribes, practiced shooting a number of arrows in
+succession with such dexterity that their best archer could keep eight
+arrows up in the air at one time.
+
+Will Thompson, the dean of American archery, writing in _Forest and
+Stream_ of March, 1915, says very definitely that the feat of the
+legendary hero, Hiawatha, who is supposed to have shot so strong and
+far that he could shoot the tenth arrow before the first descended, is
+manifestly absurd. Thompson contends that no man ever has, or ever will
+keep more than three arrows up in the air at once.
+
+Having read this and determined to try the experiment of dextrous
+shooting, I constructed a dozen light arrows having wide nocks and
+flattened rear ends so they might be fingered quickly. Then I devised a
+way of grasping a supply of ready shafts in the bow hand, and invented
+an arrow release in which all the fingers and thumb held the arrow on
+the string, yet remained entirely on the right side of it.
+
+After quite a bit of practice in accurate, later in rapid, nocking, I
+succeeded in shooting seven successive arrows in the air before the
+first touched the ground. I used a perpendicular flight. Upon several
+occasions I almost accomplished eight at once. I feel that with
+considerable practice eight, and even more, are possible, proving again
+that there is an element of truth in all legends.
+
+It has long been a bone of contention among archers which element of
+the yew, the sap wood or the heart, gives the greater cast. To obtain
+experimental evidence, I constructed two miniature bows, each
+twenty-two inches long, one of pure white sap wood, the other of the
+heart from the same stave. I made them the same size, and weighing
+about eight pounds when drawn eight inches.
+
+Shooting a little arrow on these bows, the sap wood shot forty-three
+yards; the red wood sixty-six yards, showing the greater cast to be in
+the red yew.
+
+Corroborating this, Mr. Compton relates that while working in Barnes's
+shop in Forest Grove, Oregon, during the last illness of that noted
+bowyer, he came across a laminated bow made entirely of sap wood.
+Barnes stated that he had constructed it at the instigation of Will
+Thompson. The cast of this bow was slow, flabby, and weak. As a
+shooting implement it was a failure.
+
+Taking two pieces of wood, one white and one red, each twelve inches
+long, I placed them in a bench vise and fastened a spring scale to the
+top of each. Drawing the sap wood four inches from the perpendicular,
+it pulled eight pounds. Drawing the heart wood the same distance it
+pulled fourteen pounds, showing the greater strength of the latter.
+When drawn five inches from a straight line, the red piece broke. The
+sap wood could be bent at a right angle without fracture.
+
+It is obvious from this that the sap wood excels in tensile strength
+the red wood in compression strength and resiliency. In fact, they are
+reciprocal in action. The red yew on the belly of the bow gives the
+energy, the sap wood preserves it from fracture. It is, in fact,
+equivalent to sinew backing, and though less durable, probably adds
+more to the cast of the bows.
+
+In our experiments with a catgut and rawhide backing, we have not found
+that they add materially to the cast of a bow, only insure it against
+fracture. On the other hand, sap wood and hickory backing materially
+add to the power of the implement.
+
+The little red yew bow used in the previous experiment was backed
+heavily with rawhide and catgut. It then weighed ten pounds, but only
+shot sixty-three yards, showing a decrease in cast. But the backing
+permitted its being drawn to ten inches, when it shot a distance of
+eighty-five yards. A draw of twelve inches fractured it across the
+handle.
+
+In a similar experiment it was shown that two pieces of wood of the
+same size, but one being of a coarse-grained yew running sixteen lines
+to the inch, the other a fine-grained piece running thirty-five lines
+to the inch, the finer grain had the greater strength and resiliency up
+to the breaking point, but the yellow coarse-grained piece was more
+flexible and less readily broken.
+
+The question often arises, "How would an arrow fly if the bow is held
+in a mechanical rest and the string released by a mechanical release?"
+Such an apparatus would permit of several experiments. It would answer
+some of the queries that naturally pass through the mind of every
+archer.
+
+_Question 1._ How accurate is the bow and arrow as a weapon of
+precision, or as they say in ballistics, "What is the error of
+dispersion?"
+
+_Question 2._ What is the angle of declination to the left of the point
+of aim in the flight of such an arrow?
+
+_Question 3._ What is the effect of placing the cock feather next the
+bow?
+
+_Question 4._ What is the effect of shooting different arrows? How do
+they group? Would not such a machine give accurate data regarding the
+flight of new arrows and help in the selection of shafts for target
+shooting?
+
+_Question 5._ What effect does the time of holding a bow full drawn
+have on the flight of an arrow?
+
+_Question 6._ What is the result of changing the weight of bows when
+the arrows remain the same?
+
+Therefore, we devised a rest, consisting of a post set firmly in the
+ground, with a rigid cross arm and a vise-like hand grip. This latter
+was padded thickly with rubber, so that some resiliency was permitted.
+The bow was fastened in this mechanical hand by sturdy set screws.
+
+At the other end of the cross arm a hinged block was attached, from
+which projected two short wooden fingers, serving the exact function of
+the drawing hand. These were spaced so that the arrow nock fitted
+between them, and when the string was pulled into position and caught
+upon these fingers, the bow was drawn 28 inches.
+
+We adopted a system of loading, drawing and releasing on count, so that
+every shot was delivered with equal time factors.
+
+_Answer 1._ Using the same arrow each time, with the target set at 60
+yards, we found, of course, that the arrow always flies to the left
+when drawn on the left side of the bow, and that the angle of
+divergence for a 50 pound bow and a 5 shilling English target arrow was
+between six and seven degrees. Using a stronger bow this angle was
+increased,--also that with a weaker arrow the angle was greater,--but
+six degrees might be designated as the normal declination.
+
+_Answer 2._ Every rifle expert knows what his gun is capable of, in
+accuracy, and an archer should know just what to expect of an arrow
+under the most favorable conditions. We therefore tried shooting the
+same arrow over the same course with the same release, under these
+fairly stable conditions: The day was calm. We shot an arrow ten times
+in succession and all the shots centered in a six inch bull's-eye; that
+is, none went out of a circle of this diameter. In other words, at
+sixty yards a bow can shoot arrows with an error of dispersion of no
+more than six inches. This is surprisingly accurate for a weapon of
+this sort, when it is considered that the best rifles of today will
+average between one and a half to three inches dispersion at 100 yards.
+
+_Answer 3._ Placing the cock feather next the bow diverts the arrow to
+the left and causes it to drop lower on the target. The group formed by
+six flights was fairly close and consistent.
+
+_Answer 4._ Out of nine arrows tested, five consistently made a good
+close group and four as consistently went out. The "outs," however,
+were uniform in the direction and distance they took. It would be
+possible by this machine to select arrows that would make co-incidental
+patterns. It is obvious, however, that differences in individual arrows
+are greatly exaggerated by the apparatus, because it was quite apparent
+by this test that any good archer could group these hits much closer
+than the machine delivered them.
+
+_Answer 5._ In our shooting, we universally allotted five seconds for
+drawing, setting and discharging. However, when this time was increased
+to fifteen seconds, we found that our groups averaged seven and
+one-half inches lower. This shows the decided loss of cast incidental
+to long holding of the bow.
+
+_Answer 6._ Placing a 65 pound bow in the frame immediately showed
+increased reactions throughout. The lateral divergence in arrow flight
+was increased to fifteen degrees and all individual reactions were
+correspondingly increased. The flight of the individual arrow was less
+consistent, showing plainly the necessity of a proper relation in
+weight between the arrow and bow,--a very essential factor in accurate
+shooting.
+
+In conclusion, it seems to me that the machine naturally exaggerated
+the errors, for this reason. If the pressure of the arrow against the
+bow, in passing, amounts to two ounces, the arrow will fly a two ounce
+equivalent to the left, when the bow is held rigidly. An arrow that
+exerts four ounces pressure will fly correspondingly a greater distance
+to the left. But when the bow is held in the hand, there is
+considerable give to the muscles and the two ounce pressure is
+compensated for; thus, the arrow tends to fly straight. The four ounce
+arrow would with the same adjustment hold a correspondingly straighter
+course.
+
+The vertical error, however, depends more on the weight of the arrow,
+on the feathering, the holding time, the maintainance of tension, and
+on the release of the bowstring.
+
+There are many problems in the ballistics of archery that are unsolved,
+waiting the experiments of modern science. Empirical methods have
+dictated the art so far. In target equipment and shooting there is a
+wide field for investigation. Our interests, however, are more those of
+the hunter, and less those of the physicist.
+
+
+
+
+V
+
+
+HOW TO MAKE A BOW
+
+
+Every field archer should make his own tackle. If he cannot make and
+repair it, he will never shoot very long, because it is in constant
+need of repair.
+
+Target bows and arrows may be bought in sporting stores, here or in
+England, but hunting equipment must be made. Moreover, when a man
+manufactures his bow and arrows, he appreciates them more. But it will
+take many attempts before even the most mechanically gifted can expect
+to produce good artillery. After having made more than a hundred yew
+bows, I still feel that I am a novice. The beginner may expect his
+first two or three will be failures, but after that he can at least
+shoot them.
+
+Since there are so many different kinds of bows and all so inferior to
+the English long-bow, we shall describe this alone.
+
+Yew wood is the greatest bow timber in the world. That was proved
+thousands of years ago by experience. It is indeed a magic wood!
+
+But yew wood is hard to get and hard to make into a bow once having got
+it. Nevertheless, I am going to tell you where you can get it and how
+to work it, and how to make hunting bows just as we use them today, and
+presumably just as our forefathers used them before us. Later on I
+shall tell you what substitutes may be used for yew.
+
+The best yew wood in America grows in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon,
+in the Sierra Nevada and Coast Ranges of northern California. By
+addressing the Department of Forestry, doubtless one can get in
+communication with some one who will cut him a stave. Living in
+California, I cut my own.
+
+A description of yew trees and their location may be had from
+Sudworth's "_Forest Trees of the Pacific Slope_," to be obtained from
+the Government Printing Office at Washington.
+
+My own staves I cut near Branscomb, Mendocino County, and at Grizzly
+Creek on the Van Duzen River, Humboldt County, California. Splendid
+staves have been shipped to me from this latter county, coming from the
+neighborhood of Korbel.
+
+Yew is an evergreen tree with a leaf looking a great deal like that of
+redwood, hemlock, or fir at a distance. It is found growing in the
+mountains, down narrow canyons, and along streams. It likes shade,
+water, and altitude. Its bark is reddish beneath and scaly or fuzzy on
+the surface. Its limbs stand straight out from the trunk at an acute
+angle, not drooping as those of the redwood and fir.
+
+The sexes are separate in yew. The female tree has a bright red
+gelatinous berry in autumn, and the male a minute cone. It is
+interesting that in bear countries the female trees often have long
+wounds in the bark, or deep scratches made by the claws of these
+animals as they climb to get the yew berries. It is also stated by some
+authorities that the female yew has light yellow wood, is coarser
+grained, and does not make so good a bow. I have tried to verify this,
+but so far I have found some of my bear marked female yew to be the
+better staves.
+
+The best wood is, of course, dark and close grained. This generally
+exists in trees that have one side decayed. It seems that the rot
+stains the rest of the wood and nature makes the grain more compact to
+compensate for the loss of structural strength. It is also apparent
+that yew grown at high altitudes, over three thousand feet, is superior
+to lowland yew.
+
+In selecting a tree for a hunting bow, the stave must be at least six
+feet long, free from limbs, knots, twists, pitch pockets, rot, small
+sprouting twigs and corrugations. One will look over a hundred trees to
+find one good bow stave; then he may find a half dozen excellent staves
+in one tree.
+
+There is no such thing as a perfect piece of yew, nor is there a
+perfect bow; at least, I have never seen it. But there is a bow in
+every yew tree if we but know how to get it out. That is the mystery of
+bowmaking. It takes an artist, not an artisan.
+
+Before one ever fells a tree, he should weigh the moral right to do so.
+But yew trees are a gift from the gods, and grown only for bows. If you
+are sure you see one good bow in a tree, cut it. Having felled it and
+marked with your eye the best stave, cut it again so that your stave is
+seven feet long. Then split the trunk into halves or quarters with
+steel or wooden wedges so that your stave is from three to six inches
+wide. Cut out the heart wood so that the billet is about three inches
+thick. Be careful not to bruise the bark in any of these operations.
+
+Now put your stave in the shade. If you are compelled to ship it by
+express, wrap it in burlap or canvas, and preferably saw the ends
+square and paint them to prevent checking. When you get it home put it
+in the cellar.
+
+If you must make a bow right away, place the stave in running water for
+a month, then dry in a shady place for a month, and it is ready for
+use. It will not be so good as if seasoned three to seven years, but it
+will shoot; in fact, it will shoot the same day you cut it from the
+tree, only it will follow the string and not stand straight as it
+should. Of course, it will not have the cast of air-seasoned wood.
+
+The old authorities say, cut your yew in the winter when the sap is
+down, or as Barnes, the famous bow-maker of Forest Grove, Oregon, used
+to say: "Yew cut in the summer contains the seeds of death." But this
+does not seem to have proved the case in my experience. I am fully
+convinced that the sap can be washed out and the process of seasoning
+hastened very materially by proper treatment.
+
+Kiln dried wood is never good as a bow. It is too brash; but after the
+first month of shade, the staves may be put in a hot attic to their
+advantage.
+
+In selecting the portion of the tree best suited for a bow, choose that
+part that when cut will cause the stave to bend backward toward the
+bark. Since your bow ultimately will bend in the opposite direction,
+this natural curve tends to form a straighter bow, or as an archer
+would say "set back a bit in the handle."
+
+If it is impossible to get a stave six feet in length, then a wide
+stave three and a half feet long may be used. It is necessary in this
+case to split it and join the two pieces with a fishtail splice in the
+handle. Target bows are made this way, to advantage, but such a
+makeshift is to be deprecated in a hunting bow. The variations of
+temperature and moisture combined with hard usage in hunting demand a
+solid, single stave. It must not break. Your life may depend upon it.
+
+Before engaging in any art, it is necessary to study the anatomy of
+your subject. The anatomical points of a bow have a time-honored
+nomenclature and are as follows: Bows may be single staves, or
+one-piece bows, those of one continuity and homogeneity; spliced bows
+consist of two pieces of wood united in the handle; backed bows have an
+added strip of wood glued on the back; and composite bows are made up
+of several different substances, such as wood, horn, sinew, and glue.
+
+That surface of the bow which faces the string when drawn into action,
+that is, the concave arc, is called the belly of the bow. The opposite
+surface is the back. A bow should never be bent backwards, away from
+the belly; it will break.
+
+The center of the bow is the handle or hand grip; the extremities are
+the tips, usually finished with notches cut in the wood or surmounted
+by horn, bone, sinew, wooden or metal caps called nocks. These are
+grooved to accommodate the string. The spaces between the nocks and the
+handle are called the limbs.
+
+A bow that when unstrung bends back past the straight line is termed
+reflexed. One that continues to bend toward the belly is said to follow
+the string. A lateral deviation is called a cast in the bow.
+
+The proper length of a yew bow should be the height of the man that
+shoots it, or a trifle less. Our hunting bows are from five feet six
+inches to five feet eight inches in length. The weight of a hunting bow
+should be from fifty to eighty pounds. One should start shooting with a
+bow not over fifty pounds, and preferably under that. At the end of a
+season's shooting he can command a bow of sixty pounds if he is a
+strong man. Our average bows pull seventy-five pounds. Though it is
+possible for some of us to shoot an eighty-five pound bow, such a
+weapon is not under proper control for constant use.
+
+Some pieces of yew will make a stronger bow at given dimensions than
+others. The finer the grain and the greater the specific gravity, the
+more resilient and active the wood, and stronger the bow.
+
+Taking a yew stave having a dark red color and a layer of white sap
+wood about a quarter of an inch thick, covered with a thin
+maroon-colored bark, let us make a bow. Counting the rings in the wood
+at the upper end of the stave, you will find that they run over forty
+to the inch.
+
+Ishi insisted that this end of the stave should always be the upper end
+of the weapon. It seems to me that this extremity having the most
+compact grain, and the strongest, should constitute the lower limb,
+because, as we shall see later on, this limb is shorter, bears the
+greater strain, and is the one that gives down the sooner.
+
+We shall plan to make the bow as strong as is compatible with good
+shooting, and reduce its strength later to meet our requirements.
+
+Look over the stave and estimate whether it is capable of yielding two
+bows instead of one. If it be over three inches wide, and straight
+throughout, then rip it down the center with a saw. Place one stave in
+a bench vise and carefully clean off the bark with a draw knife. Do not
+cut the sap wood in this process.
+
+Cut your stave to six feet in length. Sight down it and see how the
+plane of the back twists. If it is fairly consistent, draw a straight
+line down the center of the sap wood. This is the back of your bow. Now
+draw on the back an outline which has a width of an inch and a quarter
+extending for a distance of a foot above and a foot below the center.
+Let this outline taper in a gentle curve to the extremities of the bow,
+where it has a width of three-quarters of an inch. This will serve as a
+rough working plan and is sufficiently large to insure that you will
+get a strong weapon.
+
+With the draw knife, and later a jack plane, cut the lateral surfaces
+down to this outline. The back must stand a tremendous tensile strain
+and the grain of the wood should not be injured in any way. But you may
+smooth it off very judiciously with a spoke shave, and later with a
+file. The transverse contour of this part of the bow remains as it was
+in the tree, a long flat arc.
+
+Shift the stave in the vise so that the sap wood is downward, and set
+it so that the average plane of the sap is level. With the raw knife
+shave the wood very carefully, avoiding cutting too deeply or splitting
+off fragments, until the bow assumes the thickness of one and
+one-quarter inches in the center and this decreases as it approaches
+the tips, where it is half an inch thick.
+
+The shape of a cross-section of the belly of the bow should be a full
+Roman arch. Many debates have centered on the shape of this part of the
+weapon. Some contend for a high-crested contour, or Gothic arch, what
+is termed "stacking a bow"; some have chosen a very flat curve as the
+best. The former makes for a quick, lively cast and may be desirable in
+a target implement, but it is liable to fracture; the latter makes a
+soft, pleasant, durable bow, but one that follows the string. Choose
+the happy medium.
+
+The process of shaping the belly is the most delicate and requires more
+skill than all the rest. In the first place you must follow the grain
+of the wood. If the back twists and undulates, your cut must do the
+same. The feather of the grain must never be reversed, but descend by
+perfect gradation from handle to tip.
+
+Where a knot or pin occurs in the wood, here you must leave more
+substance because this is a weak spot. If the pin be large and you
+cannot avoid it, then it is best to drill it out carefully and fill the
+cavity with a solid piece of hard wood set in with glue. A pin crumbles
+while an inserted piece will stand the strain. If such a "Dutchman" be
+not too large nor too near the center of either limb, it will not
+materially jeopardize the bow. If, in your shaving, you come across a
+sharp dip in' the grain, such that will make a decided concavity, here
+leave a few more layers of grain than you would were the contour even;
+for a concave structure cannot stand strain as well as a straight one;
+the leverage is increased unduly.
+
+The following measurements, with a caliper, are those of my favorite
+hunting bow, called "Old Horrible," and with which I've slain many a
+beast. The width just above the handle is 1-1/4 by 1-1/8 inches thick.
+Six inches up the limb the width is 1-1/4, thickness 11-1/16.
+
+Twelve inches above the handle it is a trifle less than 1-1/4 wide by 1
+inch thick. Eighteen inches above the handle it is 1-1/8 wide by 7/8
+thick. Twenty-four inches above it is 15/16 wide by 3/4 thick. Thirty
+inches above it is 11/16 by 9/16 thick. At the nock it is practically
+1/2 by 1/2 inches.
+
+Having got the bow down to rough proportions, the next thing is to cut
+two temporary nocks on it, very near the ends. These consist in lateral
+cuts having a depth of an eighth of an inch and are best made with a
+rat tail file.
+
+Now you can string your bow and test its curve.
+
+Of course, you must have a string, and usually that employed in these
+early tests is very strong and roughly made of nearly ninety strands of
+Barbour's linen, No. 12. Directions for making strings will be given
+later on.
+
+It is difficult to brace a new heavy bow and one will require
+assistance. In the absence of help he can place it in the vise, one of
+those revolving on a pivot, and having the string properly adjusted on
+the lower limb, pull on the upper end in such a way that the other
+presses against the wall or a stationary brace, thus bending the bow
+while you slip the expectant loop over the open nock. Or you can have
+an assistant pull on the upper nock, while you brace the bow yourself.
+
+In ancient times, at this stage, the bow was tillered, or tested for
+its curve, or, as Sir Roger Ascham says, "brought round compass," which
+means to make it bend in a perfect arc when full drawn.
+
+The tiller is a piece of board three feet long, two inches wide, and
+one inch thick, having a V-shaped notch at the lower end to fit on the
+handle and small notches on its side two inches apart, for a distance
+of twenty-eight inches. These are to hold the string.
+
+Lay the braced bow on the floor, place the end of the tiller on the
+handle while you steady the tiller upright. Then put your foot on the
+bow next the tiller and draw the string up until it slips in the first
+notch, say twelve inches from the handle. If the curve of the bow is
+fairly symmetrical, draw the string a few inches more. If again it
+describes a perfect arc raise the string still farther. A perfect arc
+for a bow should be a trifle flat at the center. If, on the other hand,
+one limb or a part of it does not bend as it should, this must be
+reduced carefully by shaving it for a space of several inches over the
+spot and the bow tested again.
+
+Proceeding very cautiously, at the same time not keeping the bow full
+drawn more than a second or two at a time, you ultimately get the two
+limbs so that they bend nearly the same and the general distribution of
+the curve is equal throughout.
+
+As a matter of fact, a great deal of experience is needed here. By
+marking a correct form on the floor with chalk, a novice may fit his
+bow to this outline.
+
+The perfect weapon is a trifle stiff at the center and the lower limb a
+shade stronger than the upper.
+
+The real shooting center, the place where the arrow passes, is actually
+one and one-quarter inches above the geographic center, and the hand
+consequently is below this point. Your finished hand grip, being four
+inches long, will be one and a quarter inches above the center and two
+and three-quarters below the center. This makes the lower limb
+comparatively shorter, so it must be relatively stronger. Your bow,
+therefore, when full drawn should be symmetrical, but when simply
+braced, the bend of the upper limb is perceptibly greater than the
+stronger lower limb.
+
+You will find the bow we have made will pull over eighty pounds, even
+after it is thoroughly broken to the string. It is necessary,
+therefore, to reduce it further. This is done with a spoke shave, a
+very small hand plane or a file. Ultimately I use a pocket knife as a
+scraper, and sandpaper and steelwool to finish it.
+
+Your effort must be to get every part of the wood to do its work, for
+every inch is under utmost strain, and one part doing more than the
+rest must ultimately break down, sustain a compression fracture, or, as
+an archer would say, "chrysal or fret."
+
+"A bow full drawn is seven-eighths broken," said old Thomas Waring, the
+English bowmaker, and he was right. Draw your bow three inches more
+than the standard cloth yard of twenty-eight inches and you break it.
+It is more accurate to say that a full drawn bow is nine-tenths broken.
+
+It is also essential that the bow be stiff in the handle so that it
+will be rigid in shooting and not jar or kick, which one weak at this
+point invariably does.
+
+A bow should be light at the tips, say the last eight inches, which is
+accomplished by rounding the back slightly and reducing the width at
+this point. This gives an active recoil, or as it is described, "whip
+ended." This can be overdone, especially in hunting-bows, where a
+little more solidity and safety are preferable to a brilliant cast.
+
+And so you must work and test your bow, and shoot it, and draw it up
+before a full length mirror and observe its outline, and get your
+friends to draw it up and pass judgment on it. In fact, while the
+actual work of making a bow takes about eight hours, it requires months
+to get one adjusted so that it is good. A bow, like a violin, is a work
+of art. The best in it can only be brought out by infinite care. Like a
+violin, it is all curved contours, there is not a straight line in it.
+Many of my bows have been built over completely three or four times.
+Old Horrible first pulled eighty-five pounds. It was reduced,
+shortened, whip ended, and worked over again and again so to tune the
+wood that all parts acted in harmony. Every good bow is a work of love.
+
+Your bow is now ready to shoot, but let us weigh it first. Brace it and
+put it horizontally in the vise with the string facing you. Take a
+spring scale registering at least eighty pounds and catch the hook
+under the string. Draw it until the yardstick registers twenty-eight
+inches from the string to the back of the bow. Now read the scale; that
+is its weight.
+
+As a matter of convenience I have devised a stick that facilitates the
+weighing. I take a dowel and attach to one end by glue and binding a
+bent piece of iron so fashioned that the extremity serves as a hook to
+draw the string and the bent portion permits the attachment of the
+scale. The dowel is marked off in inches so that one can test different
+lengths of draw. With the bow in the bench vise, this measure hooked on
+the string and resting on the bow at the arrow plate, the scale is
+hooked in place, the dowel drawn down to the standard length and the
+registered weight read off on the scale.
+
+If you still find that your bow is too strong for you, it must be
+further reduced. Begin all over again with the spoke shave and the
+file, trying to correct any inequalities that may have existed before
+and reducing it to what ultimately will be sixty-five pounds. Put on
+the string and weigh it again and again until you get the weight you
+want. If you have reduced it too much, cut it down two or four inches;
+it will be stronger and shoot better.
+
+All yew bows tend to lose in strength after much use, and your new one
+should pull five pounds more than the required weight. If a bow is put
+away in a dry, warm place for several years it nearly always increases
+in strength. In our experience one in constant use lasts from three to
+five years. The longer the bow, the longer its life. Some, of course,
+break or come to grief after a short period, others live to honorable
+old age. Yew bows are in existence today that were made many thousands
+of years ago, but, of course, they would break if shot. Many bows over
+one hundred years old are still in use occasionally. I have estimated
+that the average life of a good bow should exceed one hundred thousand
+shots, after which time it begins to fret and show other signs of
+weakness.
+
+Keeping in mind the idea of making your weapon as beautiful, as
+symmetrical and resilient as possible, free from dead or overstrained
+areas, work it down with utmost solicitude until it approaches your
+ideal. Smooth it with sandpaper; finish it with steelwool.
+
+Now comes the process of putting on the nocks. A bow shoots well
+without them, but is safer with them.
+
+From time immemorial, horn tips have been put on the ends of the limbs
+to hold the string. We have used rawhide, hardwood, aluminum, bone, elk
+horn, deer horn, buffalo horn, paper fiber or composition, and cow's
+horn. The last seems best of all. From your butcher secure a number of
+horns. With a saw cut off three or four inches of the tip. Place one in
+a vise and drill a conical hole in it an inch and a quarter deep and
+half an inch wide. This can be done by using a half-inch drill which
+has been ground on a carborundum stone to a conical point the proper
+length. In this hole set a stout piece of wood with glue. This permits
+you to hold the horn in the vise while you work it.
+
+After the glue has set, take a coarse file and shape the horn nock to
+the classical shape, which is hard to describe but easy to illustrate.
+It must have diagonal grooves to hold the string. The nock for the
+upper limb has also a hole at its extremity to receive the buckskin
+thong which keeps the upper loop of the string from slipping too far
+down the bow when unbraced.
+
+The nocks for hunting bows should be short and stout, not over one and
+a half inches long, for they get a lot of hard usage in their travels.
+They should also be broader and thicker than those used on target bows.
+
+Two nocks having been roughly finished, they are loosened from their
+wooden handles by being soaked in boiling water, and are ready for use.
+Cut the ends of the bow to fit the nocks in such a way that they tip
+slightly backward when in place, but do not attach them yet.
+
+[Illustration: DETAILS OF BOW CONSTRUCTION]
+
+At this point we back the bow with rawhide. Ordinarily a yew bow
+properly protected by sapwood requires no backing; but having had many
+bows break in our hands, we at last took the advice of Ishi and backed
+them. Since then no bow legitimately used has broken.
+
+The rawhide utilized for this purpose is known to tanners as clarified
+calfskin. Its principal use is in the manufacture of artificial limbs,
+drum heads and parchment. Its thickness is not much more than that of
+writing paper.
+
+Having secured two pieces about three feet in length and two inches
+wide, soak them in warm water for an hour.
+
+While this is being done, slightly roughen the back of your bow with a
+file. Place it in the vise and size the back with thin, hot carpenter's
+glue. When the hide is soft, lay the pieces smooth side down on a board
+and wipe off the excess water. Quickly size them with hot glue, remove
+the excess with your finger, turn the pieces over and apply them to the
+bow. Overlap them at the hand grip for a distance of two or three
+inches. Smooth them out toward the tips by stroking and expressing all
+air bubbles and excess glue. Wrap the handle roughly with string to
+keep the strips from slipping; also bind the tips for a short distance
+to secure them in place. Remove the bow from the vise and bandage it
+carefully from tip to tip with a gauze surgical bandage. Set it aside
+to dry over night. When dry, remove the bandage and string binding, cut
+off the overlapping edges of the hide and scrape it smooth. Having got
+it to the required finish, size the exterior again with very thin glue,
+and it is ready for the final stage.
+
+The tips of the bow having been cut to a conical point and the nocks
+fitted prior to the backing process the horn nocks are now set on with
+glue; the ordinary liquid variety will do.
+
+Glue a thin strip of wood on the back of the bow to round out the
+handle. This should be about one-eighth of an inch thick, one inch wide
+and three inches long and rounded at the edges.
+
+Bind the center of your bow with heavy fish line to make the handgrip,
+carefully overlapping the start and finish. A little liquid glue or
+shellac can be placed on the wood to fix the serving. Some prefer
+leather or pigskin for a handgrip, but a cord binding keeps the hand
+from sweating and has an honest feel.
+
+The handle occupies a space of four inches with one and a quarter
+inches above the center and two and three-quarters below it. Finish off
+the edges of the cord binding with a band of thin leather half an inch
+wide. This should be soaked in water, beveled at the edge, sized with
+glue, put around the bow, and overlapped at the back. I also glue a
+small piece of leather on the left-hand side of the bow above the
+handle to prevent the arrow chafing the wood at this spot. This is
+called the arrow plate and usually is made of mother-of-pearl or bone;
+leather is better. These finishing pieces are wrapped temporarily with
+string until they dry.
+
+The bow is then given a final treatment with scraper and steelwool and
+is ready for the varnish.
+
+The best protection for bows seems to be spar varnish. This keeps out
+moisture. It has two disadvantages, however; it cracks after much
+bending, and it is too shiny. The glint or flash of a hunting bow will
+frighten game. I have often seen rabbits or deer stand until the bow
+goes off, then jump in time to escape the arrow. At first we believed
+they saw the arrow; later we found that they saw the flash. Bows really
+should be painted a dull green or drab color. But we love to see the
+natural grain of the wood.
+
+The finish I prefer is first of all to give a coat of shellac to the
+backing, leather trimmings and cord handle. After it is dry, give the
+wood a good soaking with boiled linseed oil. Using the same oiled cloth
+place in its center a small wad of cotton saturated with an alcoholic
+solution of shellac. Rub this quickly over the bow. By repeated oiling
+and shellacking one produces a French polish that is very durable and
+elastic.
+
+Permit this to dry and after several days rub the whole weapon with
+floor wax, giving a final polish with a woolen cloth.
+
+When on a hunt one should carry a small quantity of linseed oil and
+anoint his bow every day or so with it. Personally I add one part of
+light cedar oil to two parts of linseed. The fragrance of the former
+adds to the pleasure of using the latter.
+
+When not in use hang your bow on a peg or nail slipped beneath the
+upper loop of the string; do not stand it in a corner, this tends to
+bend the lower limb. Keep it in a warm, dry room; preserve it from
+bruises and scratches. Wax it and the string often. Care for it as you
+would a friend; it is your companion in arms.
+
+
+SUBSTITUTES FOR YEW
+
+
+Where it is impossible to obtain yew, the amateur bowyer has a large
+variety of substitutes. Probably the easiest to obtain is hickory,
+although it is a poor alternative. I believe the pig-nut or smooth bark
+is the best variety. One should endeavor to get a piece of second
+growth, white sapwood, and split it so as to get straight grain.
+
+This can be worked on the same general dimensions as yew, but the
+resulting bow will be found slow and heavy in cast and to have an
+incurable tendency to follow the string. It will need no rawhide back
+and will never break.
+
+Osage orange, mulberry, locust, black walnut with the sap wood, red
+cedar, juniper, tan oak, apple wood, ash, eucalyptus, lancewood,
+washaba, palma brava, elm, birch, and bamboo are among the many woods
+from which bows have been made.
+
+With the exception of lancewood, lemon wood, or osage orange, which are
+hard to get, the next best wood to yew is red Tennessee cedar backed
+with hickory.
+
+Go to a lumber yard and select a plank of cedar having the fewest knots
+and the straightest grain. Saw or split a piece out of it six feet
+long, two inches wide, and about an inch thick. Plane it straight and
+roughen its two-inch surface with a file. Obtain a strip of white
+straight-grained hickory six feet long, two inches wide, and a quarter
+inch thick.
+
+Roughen one surface, spread these two rough surfaces with a good liquid
+glue and place them together. With a series of clamps compress them
+tightly. In the absence of clamps, a pile of bricks or weights may be
+used. After several days it will be dry enough to work.
+
+From this point on it may be treated the same as yew. The hickory
+backing takes the place of the sap wood.
+
+Cedar has a soft, lively cast and the hickory backing makes it almost
+unbreakable.
+
+This bow should be bound with linen or silk every few inches like a
+fishing rod. Several coats of varnish will keep the glue from being
+affected by moisture or rain.
+
+Since both woods are usually obtainable at any lumber yard, there
+should be no difficulty in the matter save the mechanical factors
+involved. These only add zest to the problem. A true archer must be a
+craftsman.
+
+
+MAKING A BOWSTRING
+
+
+A bow without a string is dead; therefore, we must set to work to make
+one.
+
+Sinew, catgut, and rawhide strings were used by the early archers, but
+have been abandoned by the more modern. Animal tissue stretches when it
+is put under strain or subjected to heat and moisture. Silk makes a
+good string, but it is short-lived and is not so strong as linen.
+
+A comparative test of various strings was made to determine which
+material is the strongest for bows. Number 3 surgical catgut is
+apparently a D string on the violin. Taking this as a standard
+diameter, a series of waxed strings of various substances were made and
+tested on a spring scale for their breaking point. The results are as
+follows:
+
+    Horsehair            breaks at 15 pounds.
+    Cotton               breaks at 18 pounds.
+    Catgut               breaks at 20 pounds.
+    Silk                 breaks at 22 pounds.
+    Irish linen          breaks at 28 pounds.
+    Chinese grass fiber  breaks at 32 pounds.
+
+This latter, with similar unusual fibers, is not on the market in the
+form of thread, so is of no practical use to us.
+
+We use Irish linen or shoemakers' thread. It is Barbour's Number 12.
+Each thread will stand a strain of six pounds; therefore, a bowstring
+of fifty strands will suspend a weight of 300 pounds.
+
+A target bow may have a proportionately lighter string than a hunting
+bow because here a quick cast is desired; but in hunting, security is
+necessary. We therefore allow one strand of linen for every pound of
+the bow.
+
+This is the method of manufacturing a bowstring as devised by the late
+Mr. Maxson and described in _American Archery_. Some few alterations
+have been introduced to simplify the technique.
+
+It is advisable to take the threads in your hands as you follow the
+directions.
+
+If you propose making a string for a sixty-five-pound bow, it should
+have about sixty threads in it, and these are divided into three
+strands of twenty threads each. Start making the first of these strands
+by measuring off on the bow a length eight inches beyond each end--that
+is, sixteen inches longer than your bow. Double your thread back,
+drawing it through your hand until you reach the beginning. Now repeat
+the process of laying one thread with another, back and forth, until
+twenty are in the strand. But these must be so arranged that each is
+about half an inch shorter than the preceding, thus making the end of
+the strand tapered.
+
+When twenty are thus stroked into one cord, they are heavily waxed by
+drawing the strand through the hand and wax, from center to the ends,
+each way. Now roll the greater part of this strand about your fingers
+and make a little coil which you compress, but allow about twenty-four
+inches to remain free and uncoiled. Thus abbreviated it is easier to
+handle in the subsequent process of twisting it into a cord.
+
+Make two other strands exactly like this, roll them into a compressed
+coil and lay them aside. Now to form the loop or eye it is necessary to
+thicken the string at this point with an additional splice. So lay out
+another strand of twenty threads six feet long. Cut this into six
+pieces, each twelve inches in length. Take one of these and so pull the
+ends of the threads that they are made of uneven length, or that the
+ends become tapered. Wax this splice thoroughly; do this to each one in
+turn.
+
+Now pick up one of your original strands and apply to its tapered end
+and lying along the last foot of its length one of the above described
+splices. Wax the two together. So treat the two other strands.
+
+Grasp the three cords together in your left hand at a point nine inches
+from the end. With the right hand pick up one strand near this point
+and twist it between the thumb and finger, away from you, rolling it
+tight, at the same time pulling it toward you. Seize another strand,
+twist it from you and pull it toward you. Continue this process with
+each in succession, and you will find that you are making a rope. By
+the time the rope is three inches in length, it is long enough to fold
+on itself and constitute a loop. Proceed to double it back so that the
+loose ends of the strands are mated and waxed into cohesion with the
+three main strands of the string. Arrange them nicely so that they
+interlace properly and are evenly applied.
+
+Now while being seated, slip the upper limb of your bow under your
+right knee and over the left, and drop the new formed loop of your
+string over the horn nock. Begin again the process of twisting each
+strand away from you while you pull it toward you. Continue the motion
+until you have run down the string a distance of eight inches. During
+the process you will see the wisdom of having rolled the excess string
+up into little skeins to keep them from being tangled. Thus the upper
+eye is formed. At this stage unwind your skeins and stretch the string
+down the bow, untwisting and drawing straight the three strands.
+
+Seize them now three inches below the lower nock of your bow. At this
+point apply the short splices for the lower loop. They should be so
+laid on that three inches extends up the string from this point and the
+rest lies along the tapered extremity. Wax them tight. Hold the three
+long strands together while you give them final equalizing traction.
+Start here and twist your second loop, drawing each strand toward you
+as you twist it away from you until a rope of three inches is formed
+again. This you double back on itself, mate its tapered extremities
+with the three long strands of the string and wax them together.
+
+Slip the upper loop down your bow and nock the lower loop on the lower
+horn. Swing your right knee over the bow below the string and set the
+loop on this horn while you work. Give the string plenty of slack.
+
+Start again the twisting and pulling operation, keeping the strands
+from tangles while you form the lower splice of the string. When it is
+eight inches long, take off the loop and unroll the twist in the main
+body of the string. Replace the loop and brace your bow. This will take
+the kinks from the cord. Wax it thoroughly and, removing the lower
+loop, twist the entire bowstring in the direction of the previous
+maneuver until it is shortened to the proper length to fit the bow.
+Nock the string again and, taking a thick piece of paper, fold it into
+a little pad and rub the bowstring vigorously until it assumes a round,
+well-waxed condition.
+
+If the loops are properly placed, the final twisting should make one
+complete rotation of the string in a distance of one or two inches. A
+closer twist tends to cut itself.
+
+If, by mistake, the string is too short or too long, and adjusting the
+twist does not correct it, then you must undo the last loop to overcome
+the error. The fork of these loops is often bound with waxed carpet
+thread to reduce their size and strengthen them. The whole structure at
+this point may be served with the same thread to protect it from
+becoming chafed and worn.
+
+The center of the string and the nocking point for the arrow must now
+be served with waxed silk, linen, or cotton thread to protect it from
+becoming worn.
+
+Ordinarily we take a piece of red carpet thread or shoe button thread,
+about two yards in length, wax it thoroughly and double it. Start with
+the doubled end, threading the free end through it around the string,
+and wind it over, from right to left. The point of starting this
+serving is two and one-half inches above the center of the bowstring.
+
+When you come to the nocking point, or that at which an arrow stands
+perpendicular to the string while crossing the bow at the top of the
+handle, make a series of overlapping threads or clove hitches. This
+will form a little lump or knot on the string at this point. Continue
+serving for half an inch and repeat this maneuver; again continue the
+serving down the string for a distance of four or five inches,
+finishing with a fixed lashing by drawing the thread under the last two
+or three wraps.
+
+A nocking point of this character has two advantages: the first is that
+you can feel it readily while nocking an arrow in the dark or while
+keeping your eye on the game, and the other point is that the knots
+prevent the arrow being dislodged while walking through the brush.
+
+We have found that by heating our beeswax and adding about one-quarter
+rosin, it makes it more adhesive.
+
+In hot or wet weather it is of some advantage to rub the string with an
+alcoholic solution of shellac. Compounds containing glue or any hard
+drying substance seem to cause the strings to break more readily.
+Paraffin, talcum powder, or a bit of tallow candle rubbed on the
+serving and nocking point is useful in making a clean release of the
+string.
+
+So far as dampness and rain go, these never interfere with the action
+of the string. A well-greased bow will stand considerable water, though
+arrows suffer considerably.
+
+Wax your string every few days if in use; you should always carry an
+extra one with you.
+
+Strings break most commonly at the nocking point beneath the serving.
+Here they sustain the greatest strain and are subject to most bending.
+An inspection at this point frequently should be done. An impending
+break is indicated by an uneven contour of the strands beneath the
+serving. Discard it before it actually breaks.
+
+By putting a spring scale between one of the bow nocks and the end of
+the string, the unexpected phenomenon is demonstrated that there is
+greater tension on a string when the bow is braced but not drawn up. A
+fifty-six pound bow registers a sixty-four pound tension on the string.
+As the arrow is drawn up the tension decreases gradually until twenty-
+six inches are drawn, when it registers sixty-four pounds again.
+
+At the moment of recoil, when the bow springs back into position, this
+strain must rise tremendously, for if the arrow be not in place the
+string frequently will be broken.
+
+The tension on the string at the center or nocking point during the
+process of drawing a bow--that is, the accumulated weight--rises quite
+differently in different bows. The arrow being nocked on the string, it
+is ordinarily already six inches drawn across the bow. Now in the same
+fifty-six pound bow for every inch of draw past this, the weight rises
+between two and three pounds. As the arrow nears full draw, the weight
+increases to such a degree that the last few inches will register five
+or six pounds to the inch, depending on many variable factors in the
+bow.
+
+The gradient thus formed dictates the character of a bow to a great
+extent. One that pulls softly at first and in the last part of the draw
+is very stiff, will require more careful shooting to get the exact
+length of flight than one whose tension is evenly distributed.
+
+Reflexed bows are harder on strings than those that follow the string.
+A breaking cord may fracture your bow. I saw Wallace Bryant lose a
+beautiful specimen this way. One of Aldred's most perfect make, dark
+Spanish yew and more than fifty years old, flew to splinters just
+because a treacherous string parted in the center. Sturdy hunting bows
+are not so liable to this catastrophe, but be sure you are not caught
+out in a game country with a broken string and no second. You will see
+endless opportunities to shoot. Wax is to an archer what tar is to a
+sailor; use it often, and always have two strings to your bow.
+
+
+
+
+VI
+
+
+HOW TO MAKE AN ARROW
+
+
+Fletching is a very old art and, necessarily, must have many empirical
+methods and principles involved. There are innumerable types of arrows,
+and an equal number of ways of making them. For an excellent
+description of a good way to make target arrows, the reader is referred
+to that chapter by Jackson in the book _American Archery_.
+
+Having learned several aboriginal methods of fletching and studied all
+the available literature on the subject, we have adopted the following
+maneuvers to turn out standard hunting arrows: The first requisite is
+the shaft. Having tested birch, maple, hickory, oak, ash, poplar,
+alder, red cedar, mahogany, palma brava, Philippine nara, Douglas fir,
+red pine, white pine, spruce, Port Orford cedar, yew, willow, hazel,
+eucalyptus, redwood, elderberry, and bamboo, we have adopted birch as
+the most rigid, toughest and suitable in weight for hunting arrows.
+Douglas fir and Norway pine are best for target shafts; bamboo for
+flight arrows.
+
+The commercial dowel, frequently called a maple dowel, is made of white
+birch and is exactly suited to our purpose. It may be obtained in
+quantities from dealers in hardwoods, or from sash and door mills. If
+possible, you should select these dowels yourself, to see that they are
+straight, free from cross-grain, and of a rigid quality. For hunting
+bows drawing over sixty pounds, the dowels should be three-eighths of
+an inch in diameter; for lighter bows five-sixteenths dowels should be
+used. They come in three-foot lengths and bundles of two hundred and
+fifty. It is a good plan to buy a bundle at a time and keep them in the
+attic to dry and season.
+
+Where dowels are not obtainable, you can have a hickory or birch plank
+sawed up or split into sticks half an inch in diameter, and plane these
+to the required size, or turn them on a lathe, or run them through a
+dowel-cutting machine.
+
+Take a dozen dowels from your stock and cut them to a length of
+twenty-eight and one-quarter inches, or an inch less or more according
+to the length of your arms. In doing this you should try to remove the
+worst end, keeping that portion with the straightest grain for the head
+of your shaft.
+
+Having cut them to length, take a hand plane and shave the last six
+inches of the rear end or shaftment so that the diameter is reduced to
+a trifle more than five-sixteenths of an inch at the extremity.
+
+Now comes the process of straightening your shafts. By squinting down
+the length of the dowel you can observe the crooked portions. If these
+are very bad, they should be heated gently over a gas flame and then
+bent into proper line over the base of the thumb or palm. A pair of
+gloves will protect the hand from burning. If the deviation be slight,
+then mere manual pressure is often sufficient. During this process the
+future arrow should be tested for strength. If it cannot stand
+considerable bending it deserves to break. If it is limber, discard it.
+
+Nocking the shaft comes next. Hunting arrows require no horn, bone,
+aluminum, or fiber nock. Simply place the smaller end of the shaft in a
+vise and cut the end across the grain with three hack saws bound
+together, your cut being about an eighth of an inch wide by
+three-eighths deep; finish it carefully with a file. Thus nock them all
+and sandpaper them smooth throughout, rounding the nocked end
+gracefully. To facilitate this process I place one end in a
+motor-driven chuck and hold the rapidly revolving shaft in a piece of
+sandpaper in my hand. When finished the diameter should be a trifle
+under three-eighths of an inch at the center and about five-sixteenths
+at the nock.
+
+Mark them now, where the feathers and binding should go. At a point one
+inch from the base of the nock make a circular line, this is for the
+rear binding; five inches above this make another, this is for the
+feather; one inch above this make another, this is for the front
+binding; and an inch above this make another, this is for the painted
+ribbon.
+
+Feathers come next, but really they should have come long ago. The best
+are turkey feathers, so we won't talk about any others. The time to get
+them is at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Then you should get on good
+terms with your butcher and have him save you a boxful of turkey wings.
+These you chop with a hatchet on a block, saving only the six or seven
+long pinions. Put them away with moth balls until you need them. Of
+course, if you cannot get turkey feathers when you want them, goose,
+chicken, duck, or plumes from a feather duster may be employed. Your
+milliner can tell you where to purchase goose feathers, but these are
+expensive.
+
+Cutting arrow feathers is a pleasant occupation around the fire in the
+winter evenings, and the real archer has the happiness of making his
+tackle while his mind dwells upon the coming spring shooting. As he
+makes his shaft he wonders what fate will befall it. Will it speed away
+in a futile shot, or last the grilling of a hundred practice flights,
+or will it be that fortunate arrow which flies swift and true and
+brings down the bounding deer? How often have I picked up a shaft and
+marked it, saying, "With this I'll kill a bear." And with some I've
+done it, too!
+
+So your feathers should be cut in quantity. This is the way you cut
+them: Select a good clean one, steady it between your palms while with
+your fingers you separate the bristles at the tip. Pull them apart,
+thus splitting the rib down the center. If by chance it should not
+split evenly, take your sharpened penknife and cut it straight.
+
+Have ready a little spring clip, such as is used to hold your cravat or
+magazine in a book store. One end of this is bent about a safety-pin so
+that it can be fastened to your trousers at the knee. Now you have a
+sort of knee vise to hold your feather while trimming it. Place the
+butt of the rib in the jaws of the clip and shave it down to the
+thickness of a thirty-second of an inch. Make this even and level so
+that the feather stands perpendicular to it. With a pair of long
+scissors cut off the lateral excess of rib on the concave side of the
+feather. This permits it to straighten out.
+
+At the same stage cut the feather roughly to shape; that is, five
+inches long, half an inch at the anterior end, an inch wide
+posteriorly, and having an inch of stem projecting at each extremity.
+
+For this work you must keep your pocket-knife very sharp. With practice
+you should cut a feather in two or three minutes.
+
+Donnan Smith, a worthy archer and a good fletcher, has devised a spring
+clamp which holds the feather while being cut. It is composed of a
+strong binder clip to which are soldered two thin metal jaws the size
+and shape of a properly cut feather. Having stripped his feather, he
+clamps it rib uppermost between the jaws and trims the rib with a
+knife, or on a fast-revolving emery stone, or sandpaper disc. This
+accomplished, he turns the feather around in the clamp and cuts the
+bristles to the exact shape of the metal jaws with a pair of scissors.
+It is an admirable method.
+
+Some fletchers cut their feathers on a board by eye with only a knife.
+James Duff, the well-known American maker of tackle, learned this in
+the shop of Peter Muir, the famous Scotch fletcher.
+
+If you wish to dye your feathers it may be done by obtaining the
+aniline dye used on wool. Adding about 10 per cent of vinegar to the
+aqueous solution of the stain, heat it to such a temperature that you
+can just stand your finger in it. Soak your feathers in this hot
+solution, stir them for several minutes, then lay them out on a piece
+of newspaper to dry in the sun. Red, orange, and yellow are used for
+this purpose; the former helps one to find a lost arrow, but all colors
+tend to run if wet, and stain the clothing.
+
+Having prepared a sufficient quantity of feathers, you are ready to
+fledge your shaft. Select three of a similar color, strength, and from
+the same wing of the bird. With a stick, run a little liquid glue along
+the rib of each and lay it aside. Along the axis of your arrow run
+three parallel lines of glue down the shaftment. The first of these is
+for the cock feather and should be on a line perpendicular to the nock.
+The other two are equidistant from this. A novice should mark these
+lines with a pencil at first.
+
+Now comes a difficult task, that of putting on the feathers. Many ways
+and means have been devised, and in target arrows nothing is better
+than just sticking them on by hand. Some have used clamps, some use
+pins, some lash the feathers on at the extremities with thread, and
+then glue beneath them. We take the oldest of all methods, which is
+shown in the specimens of old Saxon arrows rescued from the Nylander
+boat in Holland, [1]
+[Footnote 1: See _Archer's Register_ of 1912.]
+also depicted in many old English paintings--that of binding the
+feathers with a piece of thread running spirally up the shaft between
+the bristles.
+
+Starting at a point six inches from the nock, set your thick end of the
+rib in position on the lines of glue. Hold the shaft under your left
+arm while with the left thumb, forefinger, and middle finger steady the
+feathers as they are respectively put in place. With one end of a piece
+of cotton basting thread in your teeth and the spool in your right
+hand, start binding the ribs down to the arrow shaft. After a few turns
+proceed up the shaftment, adjusting the feathers in position as you
+rotate the arrow. Let your basting thread slip between the bristles of
+the feather about half an inch apart. When you come to the rear end,
+finish up with several overlapping turns and a half-hitch. Line up your
+feathers so that they run straight down the shaftment and are
+equidistant. Of one thing be very sure--see that your feather runs a
+trifle toward the concave side, looking from the rear, and that the
+rear end deviates quite perceptibly toward this direction. This insures
+proper steering qualities to your arrow. Set it aside and let it dry.
+
+When all are dry, remove the basting thread and trim the ribs to the
+pencil marks, leaving them about three-quarters of an inch long. Bevel
+their ends to a slender taper.
+
+The next process is that of binding the feathers in position. The
+material which we use for this purpose is known as ribonzine, a thin
+silk ribbon used to bind candy boxes. In the absence of this, floss
+silk may be employed. Cut it into pieces about a foot long. Put a
+little liquid glue on the space reserved for binding and, while
+revolving the shaft under your arm, apply the ribbon in lapping spirals
+over the feather ribs. Cover them completely and have the binding
+smooth and well sized in glue. The ribbon near the nock serves to
+protect the wood at this point from splitting. When dry, clean your
+shaft from ragged excess of glue with knife and sandpaper, and finish
+up by running a little diluted glue with a small brush along the side
+of the feather ribs to make them doubly secure.
+
+Now comes the painting.
+
+We paint arrows not so much for gayness, as to preserve them against
+moisture, to aid in finding them when lost, and to distinguish one
+man's shaft from another's.
+
+Chinese vermilion and bright orange are colors which are most
+discernible in the grass and undergrowth. With a narrow brush, paint
+between your feathers, running up slightly on to the rib, covering the
+glue. If your silk ribbon binding is a bright color--mine is green--you
+can leave it untouched. We often paint the nock a distinguishing color
+to indicate the type of head at the other end, so that in drawing the
+shaft from the quiver we can know beforehand what sort it will be. The
+livery should be painted in several different rings. My own colors are
+red, green, and white.
+
+One or two coats are applied according to the fancy of the archer. The
+line between the various pigments should be striped with a thin black
+ring.
+
+Unless you use a lathe to hold your arrows in the painting process, you
+can employ two wooden blocks or rests, one having a shallow countersunk
+hole on its lateral face to hold the nock while rotating, the other
+having a groove on its upper surface. Clamp these on a bench, or on the
+opposite arms of your easy chair before the fire, and you can turn your
+shafts slowly by hand while you steady your brush and apply the paint
+in even rings.
+
+At this stage I have added a device which seems to be helpful in
+nocking arrows in the dark, or while keeping one's eye on the game.
+Having put a drop of glue on the ribbon immediately above the nock and
+behind the cock feather, I affix a little white glass bead. One can
+feel this with his thumb as he nocks his arrow, when in conjunction
+with knots on his string, he can perform this maneuver entirely by
+touch.
+
+The paint having dried, varnish or shellac your arrow its entire
+length, avoiding, of course, any contact with the feathers. In due time
+sandpaper the shaft and repeat the varnishing. Rub this down with
+steelwool and give it a finishing touch with floor wax.
+
+Here we are ready for the arrow-heads.
+
+We use three types of points. The first is a blunt head made by binding
+the end of the shaft with thin tinned iron wire for half an inch and
+running on solder, then drilling a hole in the end of the shaft and
+inserting an inch round-headed screw. In place of soldered wire, one
+can use an empty 38-caliber cartridge, either cutting off the base or
+drilling out the priming aperture to admit the screw. This type of
+arrow we use for rough practice, shooting tin cans, trees, boxes, and
+other impedimenta. It makes a good shaft for birds, rabbits, and small
+game.
+
+A second type of head we use is made of soft steel about a sixteenth of
+an inch thick. We cut it with a hack saw into a blunt, barbed,
+lanceolate shape having a blade about an inch long and half an inch
+wide, also a tang about the same length and three-eighths of an inch
+wide.
+
+This we set into a slot sawed in the arrow in the same plane as the
+nock, and bind the shaft with tinned wire, number 30, soldered
+together. The end of the shaft has a gradual bevel where it meets the
+lateral face of the head.
+
+This is a sturdy little point and will stand much abuse. We use it for
+shooting birds, squirrels, and small vermin.
+
+But the point that we prefer to shoot is the old English broad-head.
+Starting from small dimensions, we have gradually increased its size,
+weight and strength and cutting qualities till now we shoot a head
+whose blade is three inches long, an inch and a quarter wide, a trifle
+less than a thirty-second thick. It has a haft or tubular shank an inch
+long. Its weight is half an ounce. The blades are made of spring steel.
+After annealing the steel we score it diagonally with a hack saw, when
+it may be broken in triangular pieces in a vise. With a cold chisel, an
+angular cut is made in the base to form the barbs. With a file and
+carborundum stone, they are edged and shaped into blades as sharp as
+knives. Soft, cold drawn steel will serve quite as well as spring steel
+for these blades, but it does not hold its edge. It may be purchased at
+hardware supply depots in the form of strips an inch and a half wide,
+by one-thirty-second thick, and is much easier to work than the
+tempered variety.
+
+Then taking three-eighths number .22 gauge steel or brass tubing, we
+smash it to a short bevel on the anvil, file off the corners and cut it
+to a length of an inch and three-quarters. This makes the haft or
+socket. Fixing a blade, barbs uppermost in the vise, this tubing is
+driven lightly into position, the filed edges of the beveled end
+permitting the blade to be held between the sides of the tubing. A
+small hole is drilled through the tubing and blade, and a soft iron
+wire rivet is inserted. The blade is held over a gas flame while the
+joint between it and the tubing is filled with soft soldering compound
+and ribbon solder.
+
+The heated head is plunged into water and later finished with file and
+emery cloth. The whole process of making a steel broad-head requires
+about twenty minutes. Every archer should manufacture his own. Then he
+will treat them with more respect. Very few artisans can make them, and
+if they can, their price is exorbitant.
+
+Be sure that your heads are straight and true. To set them on your
+shaft, cut the wood to fit, then heat a bit of ferrule cement and set
+them on in the same plane as the nock. In the absence of ferrule
+cement, which can be had at all sporting goods stores, one can use
+chewing gum, or better yet, a mixture of caoutchouc pitch and scale
+shellac heated together in equal parts. Heat your fixative as you would
+sealing wax, over a candle, also heat the arrow and the metal head. Put
+on with these adhesives, it seldom pulls off. In the wilds we often fix
+the head with pine resin. Glue can be used, but it is not so good.
+
+Having brought your arrows to this stage, the next act is to trim the
+feathers. First run them gently through the hand and smooth out their
+veins; then with long-bladed scissors cut them so that the anterior end
+is three-eighths of an inch high, while the posterior extremity is one
+inch. I also cut the rear tip of the feather diagonally across,
+removing about half an inch to prevent it getting in the way of the
+fingers when on the string.
+
+Mr. Arthur Young cuts his feathers in a long parabola with a die made
+of a knife blade bent into shape. These things are largely a matter of
+taste.
+
+Look your arrows over; see that they are straight and that the feathers
+are in good shape, then shoot them to observe their flight. Number them
+above the ribbon so that you can keep record of their performances. The
+weight of such an arrow is one and one-half ounces.
+
+The small blunt, barb-headed arrows we often paint red their entire
+length. Because they are meant for use in the brush, they are more
+readily lost; the bright color saves many a shaft.
+
+To make a hunting arrow requires about an hour, and one should be
+willing to look for one almost this time when it is lost. Finding
+arrows is an acquired art. Don't forget the advice of Bassanio: "In my
+school days when I had lost one shaft, I shot his fellow of the
+self-same flight, the self-same way, with more advised watch to find
+the other forth; and by adventuring both, I oft found both."
+
+If, indeed, the shaft cannot be found, then give it up with good grace,
+remembering that after all it is pleasant work to make one. Dedicate it
+to the cause of archery with the hope that in future days some one may
+pick it up and, pricking his finger on the barb, become inoculated with
+the romance of archery.
+
+When an arrow lodges in a root or tree, we work the head back and forth
+very carefully to withdraw it. A little pair of pliers comes in very
+handy here. If it is buried deeply we cut the wood away from it with a
+hunting knife. Blunt arrows, called bird bolts by Shakespeare, are best
+to shoot up in the branches of trees at winged and climbing game.
+
+In our quivers we usually carry several light shafts we call eagle
+arrows, because they are designed principally for shooting at this
+bird.
+
+Once while hunting deer, and observing a doe and fawn drinking at a
+pool, we saw a magnificent golden eagle swoop down, catch the startled
+fawn and lift it from the ground. Mr. Compton and I, having such arrows
+in our quivers, let fly at the struggling bird of prey. We came so
+close that the eagle loosened the grip of his talons and the fawn
+dropped to earth and sped off with its mother, safe for the time being.
+
+[Illustration: SEVERAL STEPS IN ARROW MAKING]
+
+Often we have shot at hawks and eagles high up in the air, where to
+reach them we needed a very light arrow, and they have had many close
+calls. For these we use a five-sixteenths dowel, feather it with short,
+low cut parabolic feathers and put a small barbed head on it about an
+inch in length. Such an arrow we paint dark green, blue, or black, so
+that the bird cannot discern its flight.
+
+It is great sport to shoot at some lazy old buzzard as he comes within
+range. He can see the ordinary arrow, and if you shoot close, he
+dodges, swoops downward, flops sidewise, twists his head round and
+round, and speeds up to leave the country. He presents the comic
+picture of a complacent old gentleman suddenly disturbed in his
+monotonous existence and frightened into a most unbecoming loss of
+dignity.
+
+Eagle arrows can be used for lofty flights, to span great canyons, to
+rout the chattering bluejay from the topmost limb of a pine, and sooner
+or later we shall pierce an eagle on the wing.
+
+We make another kind of shaft that we call a "floo-floo." In Thompson's
+_Witchery of Archery_ he describes an arrow that his Indian companion
+used, which gave forth such a fluttering whistle when in flight that
+they called it by this euphonious name. This is made by constructing
+the usual blunt screw-headed shaft and fledging it with wide uncut
+feathers. It is useful in shooting small game in the brush, because its
+flight is impeded and, missing the game, it soon loses momentum and
+stops. It does not bound off into the next county, but can be found
+near by. As a rule, these are steady, straight fliers for a short
+distance.
+
+In finishing the nock of an arrow, it should be filed so that it fits
+the string rather snugly, thus when in place it is not easily disturbed
+by the ordinary accidents of travel. Still this tightness should be at
+the entrance of the nock, while the bottom of the nock is made a trifle
+more roomy with a round file. I file all my nocks to fit a certain
+two-inch wire nail whose diameter is just that of my bowstring.
+
+After arrows have been shot for a time and their feathers have settled,
+they should again be trimmed carefully to their final proportions. The
+heads, if found too broad for perfect flight, should be ground a trifle
+narrower.
+
+When hunting, one does well to carry in his pocket a small flat file
+with which to sharpen his broad-heads before shooting them. They should
+have a serrated, meat-cutting edge. Even carrying arrows in a quiver
+tends to dull them, because they chafe each other while in motion. From
+time to time you should rub the shafts and heads with the mixture of
+cedar and linseed oil, thus keeping them clean and protected from
+dampness.
+
+On a hunting trip an archer should carry with him in his repair kit,
+extra feathers, heads, cement, a tube of glue, ribonzine, linen thread,
+wax, paraffin, sandpaper, emery cloth, pincers, file and small
+scissors. With these he can salvage many an arrow that otherwise would
+be too sick to shoot.
+
+Extra arrows are carried in a light wooden box which has little
+superimposed racks on which they rest and are kept from crushing each
+other.
+
+As a rule, nothing does an arrow so much good as to shoot it, and
+nothing so much harm as to have it lie inactive and crowded in the
+quiver.
+
+The flight of an arrow is symbolic of life itself. It springs from the
+bow with high aim, flies toward the blue heaven above, and seems to
+have immortal power. The song of its life is sweet to the ear. The rush
+of its upward arc is a promise of perpetual progress. With perfect
+grace it sweeps onward, though less aspiring. Then fluttering
+imperceptibly, it points downward and with ever-increasing speed,
+approaches the earth, where, with a deep sigh, it sinks in the soil,
+quivers with spent energy, and capitulates to the inevitable.
+
+
+
+
+VII
+
+
+ARCHERY EQUIPMENT
+
+
+Besides a bow and arrow, the archer needs to have a quiver, a bow case,
+a waterproof quiver case, an arm guard or bracer, and a shooting glove
+or leather finger tips. Our quivers are made of untanned deer hide,
+usually from deer shot with the bow. The hide, having been properly
+cleaned, stretched, and dried, is cut down the center, each half making
+a quiver. Marking a quadrilateral outline twenty-four inches on two
+sides, twelve at the larger end, and nine at the smaller, in such a way
+that the hair points from the larger to the smaller end; cut this piece
+and soak it in water until soft, and wash it clean with soap. At the
+same time cut a circular piece off the tough neck skin, three inches in
+diameter.
+
+With a furrier's needle having three sharp edges, and heavy waxed
+thread, or better yet, with catgut, sew up the longer sides of the skin
+with a simple overcast stitch. Let the hair side be in while sewing. In
+the smaller end sew the circular bottom. Invert the quiver on a stick;
+turn back a cuff of hide one inch deep at the top. To do this nicely,
+the hair should be clipped away at this point. This cuff stiffens the
+mouth of the quiver and keeps it always open.
+
+Now put your quiver over a wooden form to dry.
+
+[Illustration: ARROW HEADS OF VARIOUS SORTS USED IN HUNTING]
+
+I have one like a shoemaker's last, made of two pieces of wood
+separated by a thin slat which can be removed, permitting easy
+withdrawal of the quiver after drying. When dry, your quiver will be
+about twenty-two inches deep, four inches across the top, and slightly
+conical.
+
+Cut a strip of deer hide eight inches long by one and a half wide,
+shave it, double the hair side in, and attach it to the seamy side of
+the quiver by perforating the leather and inserting a lacing of
+buckskin thongs. Leave the loop of this strap projecting two inches
+above the top of the quiver. In the bottom of your quiver drop a round
+piece of felt or carpet to prevent the arrow points coming through the
+hide.
+
+If you are not so fortunate as to have deer hide, you may use any stiff
+leather, or even canvas. This latter can be made stiff by painting or
+varnishing it.
+
+Such a receptacle will hold a dozen broad-heads very comfortably and
+several more under pressure. It should swing from a belt at the right
+hip in such a way that in walking it does not touch the leg, while in
+shooting it is accessible to the right hand or may then be shifted
+slightly to the front for convenience.
+
+In running we usually grasp the quiver in the right hand, not only to
+prevent it interfering with locomotion, but to keep the arrows from
+rattling and falling out. When on the trail of an animal we habitually
+stuff a twig of leaves, a bunch of ferns or a bit of grass in the mouth
+of the quiver to damp the soft rustling of the arrows. Sometimes, in
+going through brush or when running, we carry the quiver on a belt
+slung over the left shoulder. Here they are out of the way and give the
+legs full action.
+
+To keep the arrows dry, and to cover them while traveling, we make a
+sheath for the quiver of waterproof muslin. This is long enough to
+cover the arrows and has a wire ring a bit larger than the top of the
+quiver sewn in the cloth some three inches from the upper end. This
+keeps the feathers from being crushed. The mouth of this cover is
+closed with a drawstring. On the side adjacent to the strap of the
+quiver, an aperture is cut to permit this being brought through and
+fastened to the belt.
+
+The bow itself has a long narrow case made of the same cloth, or
+canvas, or green baize with a drawstring at the top and a leather tip
+at the bottom. Where several bows are packed together, each has a
+woolen bow case and all are carried in a canvas bag, composition
+carrying cylinder, or in a wooden bow box. In hunting we prefer the
+canvas bag, but you must carry it yourself, any one else will break
+your bows.
+
+The bracer, or arm guard, is a cuff of leather worn on the left forearm
+to prevent the stroke of the bowstring doing damage. Some archers can
+shoot without this protection, but others, because of their style of
+shooting or their anatomical formation, need it. It can be made like a
+butcher's cuff, some six or eight inches long, partially surrounding
+the forearm and fastened by three little straps or by lacing in the
+back. Another form is simply a strip of thin sole leather from two to
+three inches wide by eight long, having little straps and buckles
+attached to hold it in position on the flexor surface of the wrist and
+forearm.
+
+[Illustration: NECESSARY ARCHERY EQUIPMENT]
+
+The bracer not only keeps the arm from injury, but makes for a clean
+release of the arrow. Anything such as a coat sleeve touching the
+bowstring when in action, diverts the arrow in its flight. On the
+sleeve of your shooting jersey you can sew a piece of leather for an
+arm guard.
+
+While one may pick up a bow and shoot a few shots without a glove or
+finger protection, he soon will be compelled to cease because of
+soreness. Doubtless the ancient yeoman, a horny-handed son of toil,
+needed no glove. But we know that even in those days a tab of leather
+was held in the hand to prevent the string from hurting. The glove
+probably is of more modern use and quite in favor among target archers.
+We have found it rather hot in hunting, so have resorted to leather
+finger tips. These are best made of pigskin or cordovan leather, which
+is horse hide. This should be about a sixteenth of an inch thick and
+cut to such a form that the tips enclose the finger on the palmar
+surface up to the second joint and leave an oval opening over the
+knuckle and upper part of the finger nail. The best way to make them is
+to mould a piece of paper about each of the first three fingers on the
+right hand, gathering the paper on the back and crimping it with the
+thumb nail to show where to cut the pattern. Lay the paper out flat and
+cut it approximately according to the illustrated form.
+
+Transferring these outlines to the leather, cut three pieces
+accordingly, soak them in water and sew them. This stitching is best
+done by previously punching holes along the edges with a fine awl and
+sewing an overcast stitch of waxed linen thread which, having reached
+the end, returns backward on its course through the same holes. This
+makes a criss-cross effect which is strong and pleasing to the eye.
+
+The ends of the finger cots should be sewed closed, protecting the
+fingers from injury and keeping out dirt. While the leather is still
+soft and damp, place the tips on the fingers and press them home. At
+the same time flex them strongly at the joints and try to keep them
+bent there. Such angulation helps not only in holding the bowstring,
+but keeps the tip from coming off under pressure. When dry, these
+leather stalls should be numbered according to the finger to which they
+belong, coated lightly with thin glue on the inside and waxed on the
+outer surface. Then they are ready for use.
+
+An archer should have two sets of tips so that, should misfortune
+befall him and he loses one, he is not altogether undone. When not in
+use keep them in your pocket or strung on the strap of your bracer. In
+by-gone days they were sewed to straps which fastened to a wrist belt,
+thus were more secure from loss, but more cumbersome.
+
+From time to time oil your tips and always keep them from being
+roughened or scratched. With a small amount of glue in the tip one has
+only to moisten his fingers in his mouth and the leather stall will
+stick on firmly. We have also used lead plaster of the pharmacopoeia
+for the same adhesive purpose.
+
+In the absence of pockets in ancient days, the archer carried his extra
+equipment in a wallet slung at his waist. Even now it seems a handy
+thing to have a deerskin wallet six by eight inches, by an inch or more
+deep. I frequently carry my tips, extra string, wax, file wrapped in a
+cloth, and a bit of lunch, in such a receptacle.
+
+With his bow, his quiver, a wallet, our modern archer is ready and
+could step into Sherwood Forest feeling quite at home.
+
+
+
+
+VIII
+
+
+HOW TO SHOOT
+
+
+First, brace your bow. To do this properly, grasp it at the handle with
+your right hand, the upper horn upward and the back toward you. Place
+the lower horn at the instep of your right foot, and the base of your
+left palm against the back of the bow, near the top below the loop of
+the string. Holding your left arm stiff and toward your left side, your
+right elbow fixed on your hip, pull up on the handle by twisting your
+body so that the bow is sprung away from you. The string is now
+relaxed, and the fingers of the left hand push it upward till it slips
+in the nock.
+
+Don't try to force the string, and don't get your fingers caught
+beneath it. Do most of the work with the right hand pulling against the
+rigid left arm.
+
+The proper distance between the bow and the string at the handle is six
+inches. This is ordinarily measured by setting the fist on the handle
+and the thumb sticking upright, where it should touch the string. This
+is the ancient fistmele, an archer's measure, also used in measuring
+lumber.
+
+Hunting bows should be strung a little less than this because of the
+prolonged strain on them. Target bows shoot cleaner when higher strung.
+
+Change your bow to your left hand and drop the arm so that the upper
+end of the bow swings across the body in a horizontal position. Draw an
+arrow from the quiver with the right hand and carry it across the bow
+till it rests on the left side at the top of the handle. Place the left
+forefinger over the shaft and keep it from slipping while you shift
+your right hand to the arrow-nock, thumb uppermost. Push the arrow
+forward, at the same time rotating it until the cock feather, or that
+perpendicular to the nock, is away from the bow. As the feathers pass
+over the string and the thumb still rests on the nock, slip the fingers
+beneath the string and fit it in the arrow-nock.
+
+Now turn the bow upright and remove your left forefinger from its
+position across the shaft. The arrow should rest on the knuckles
+without lateral support. Now place your fingers in position for
+shooting. The release used by the old English is the best. This
+consists in placing three fingers on the string, one above the arrow,
+two below. The string rests midway between the last joint and the tip
+of the finger. The thumb should not touch the arrow, but lie curled up
+in the palm.
+
+The release used by children consists in pinching the arrow between the
+thumb and forefinger, and is known as the primary loose. This type is
+not strong enough to draw an arrow half way on a hunting bow.
+
+Stand sidewise to your mark, with the feet eight or ten inches apart,
+at right angles to the line of shot. Straighten your body, stiffen the
+back, expand the chest, turn the head fully facing the mark, look at it
+squarely, and draw your bow across the body, extending the left arm as
+you draw the right hand toward the chin.
+
+Draw the arrow steadily, in the exact plane of your mark, so that when
+the full draw is obtained and the arrowhead touches the left hand, the
+right forefinger touches a spot on the jaw perpendicularly below the
+right eye and the right elbow is in a continuous line with the arrow.
+This point on the jaw below the eye is fixed and never varies; no
+matter how close or how far the shot, the butt of the arrow is always
+drawn to the jaw, not to the eye, nor to the ear. Thus the eye glances
+along the entire length of the shaft and keeps it in perfect line. The
+bow hand may be lowered or raised to obtain the proper elevation and
+length of flight. The left arm is held rigidly but not absolutely
+extended and locked at the elbow. A slight degree of flexion here makes
+for a good clearance of the string and adds resiliency to the shot.
+
+The arrow is released by drawing the right hand further backward at the
+same time the fingers slip off the string. This must be done so firmly,
+yet deftly, that no loss of power results, and the releasing hand does
+not draw the arrow out of line. Two great faults occur at this point:
+one is to permit the arrow to creep forward just before the release,
+and the other is to draw the hand away from the face in the act of
+releasing. Keep your fingers flexed and your hand by your jaw. All the
+fingers of the right hand must bear their proper share of work. The
+great tendency is to permit the forefinger to shirk and to put too much
+work on the ring finger.
+
+If the arrow has a tendency to fall away from the bow, tip the upper
+limb ten degrees to the right and pull more on the right forefinger,
+also start the draw with the fingers more acutely flexed, so that as
+the arrow is pinched between the first and second fingers and as they
+tend to straighten out under the pressure of the string, the arrow is
+pressed against the bow, not away from it.
+
+In grasping the bow with the left hand, it should rest comfortably in
+the palm and loosely at the beginning of the draw. The knuckle at the
+base of the thumb should be opposite the center of the bow, the hand
+set straight on the wrist. As you draw, be sure that the arrow comes up
+in a straight line with your mark, otherwise the bow will be twisted in
+the grasp and deflect the shot. Then fully drawn, set the grasp of the
+left hand without disturbing the position of the bow, make the left arm
+as rigid as an oak limb; fix the muscles of the chest; make yourself
+inflexible from head to toe. Keep your right elbow up and rivet your
+gaze upon your mark; release in a direct line backward. Everything must
+be under the greatest tension, any weakening spoils your flight.
+
+The method of aiming in game shooting consists in fixing binocular
+vision on the object to be hit, drawing the nock of the arrow beneath
+the right eye and observing that the head of the arrow is in a direct
+line with the mark by the indirect vision of the right eye. Both eyes
+are open, both see the mark, but only the right observes the arrowhead,
+the left ignores it. Your vision must be so concentrated upon one point
+that all else fades from view. Just two things exist--your mark and
+your arrowhead.
+
+At a range of sixty or eighty yards, the head of the arrow seems to
+touch the mark while aiming. This is called point blank range. At
+shorter lengths the archer must estimate the distance below the mark on
+which his arrow seems to rest in order to rise in a parabolic curve and
+strike the spot. At greater ranges he must estimate a distance above
+the mark on which he holds his arrow in order to drop it on the object
+of his shot.
+
+If his shaft flies to the left, it is because he has not drawn the nock
+beneath his right eye, or he has thrown his head out of line, or the
+string has hit his shirt sleeve or something has deflected the arrow.
+
+If it falls to the right, it is because he has made a forward, creeping
+release, or weakened in his bow arm, or in drawing to the center of the
+jaw instead of the angle beneath the eye.
+
+If the arrow rattles on the bow as it is released, or slaps it hard in
+passing, it is because it is not drawn up in true line, or because it
+fits too tightly on the string, or because the release is creeping and
+weak. Always draw fully up to the barb.
+
+If his arrows drop low and all else is right, it is because he has not
+kept his tension, or has lowered his bow arm.
+
+After the arrow is released, the archer should hold his posture a
+second, bow arm rigidly extended, drawing hand to his jaw, right elbow
+horizontal. This insures that he maintains the proper position during
+the shot. There should be no jerking, swinging, or casting motions; all
+must be done evenly and deliberately.
+
+The shaft should fly from the bowstring like a bird, without quaver or
+flutter. All depends upon a sharp resilient release.
+
+Having observed all the prerequisites of good shooting, nothing so
+insures a keen, true arrow flight as an effort of supreme tension
+during the release. The chest is held rigid in a position of moderate
+inspiration, the back muscles are set and every tendon is drawn into
+elastic strain; in fact, to be successful, the whole act should be
+characterized by the utmost vigor.
+
+To get the best instructions for shooting the bow, one should read Sir
+Roger Ascham in _Toxophilus_, and Horace Ford on _Archery._
+
+Game shooting differs from target shooting in that with the latter a
+point of aim is used, and the archer fixes his eyes upon this point
+which is perpendicular above or below the bull's-eye. The arrowhead is
+held on the point of aim, and when loosed, flies not along the line of
+vision, but describes a curve upward, descends and strikes not the
+point of aim, but the bull's-eye.
+
+The field archer should learn to estimate distances correctly by eye.
+He should practice pacing measured lengths, so that he can tell how
+many yards any object may be from him.
+
+In hunting he should make a mental note of this before he shoots. In
+fact we nearly always call the number of yards before we loose the
+arrow.
+
+Where a strong cross-wind exists, a certain amount of windage is
+allowed. But up to sixty yards the lateral deflexion from wind is
+negligible; past this it may amount to three or four feet.
+
+In clout shooting and target practice, one must take wind into
+consideration. In hunting we only consider it when approaching game, as
+a carrier of scent, because our hunting ranges are well under a hundred
+yards and our heavy hunting shafts tack into the wind with little
+lateral drift.
+
+
+[Illustration: AN ARCHER'S MEASURE, A FISTMELE]
+
+
+[Illustration: THE ENGLISH METHOD OF DRAWING THE ARROW]
+
+
+[Illustration: NOCKING THE SHAFT ON THE STRING]
+
+
+[Illustration: THE LONG BOW FULL DRAWN]
+
+
+No matter how much a man may shoot, he is forever struggling with his
+technique. I remember getting a letter from an old archer who had shot
+the bow for more than fifty years. He was past seventy and had to
+resort to a thirty-five pound weapon. He complained that his release
+was faulty, but he felt that with a little more practice he could
+perfect his loose and make a perfect shot. Since writing he has entered
+the Happy Hunting Grounds, still a trifle off in form.
+
+Even a sylvan archer needs to practice form at the targets. He should
+study the game from its scientific principles as formulated by Horace
+Ford, the greatest target shot ever known.
+
+The point-of-aim system and target practice improve one's hunting.
+Hunting, on the other hand, spoils one's target work. The use of heavy
+bows so accustoms the muscles to gross reactions that they fail to
+adjust themselves to the finer requirements of light bows and to the
+precise technique of the target range.
+
+The field archer gets his practice by going out in the open and
+shooting at marks of any sort, at all distances, from five to two
+hundred yards. A bush, a stray piece of paper, a flower, a shadow on
+the grass, all are objects for his shafts.
+
+The open heath, shaded forest, hills and dales, all make good grounds.
+As he comes over a knoll a bush on the farther side represents a deer,
+he shoots instantly. He must learn to run, to stop short and shoot,
+fresh or weary he must be able to draw his bow and discharge one arrow
+after another. With the bow unstrung walking along the trail, often we
+have stopped at the word of command, strung the bow, drawn an arrow
+from the quiver, nocked it, and discharged it within the space of five
+seconds. Deliberation, however, is much more desirable.
+
+Let several archers go into the fields together and roam over the land,
+aiming at various marks; it makes for robust and accurate game
+shooting.
+
+Shooting an exact line is much easier than getting the exact length.
+For this reason it is easier to split the willow wand at sixty or
+eighty yards than it seems.
+
+Often we have tried this feat to amuse ourselves or our friends, and
+seldom more than six arrows are needed to strike such a lath or stick
+at this distance. Hitting objects tossed in the air is not so difficult
+either. A small tin can or box thrown fifteen or twenty feet upward at
+a distance of ten or fifteen yards can be hit nearly every time,
+especially if the archer waits until it just reaches the apex of its
+course and shoots when it is practically stationary.
+
+Shooting at swinging objects helps to train one in leading running or
+flying game.
+
+Turtle shooting, that form in which the arrow is discharged directly
+upward and is supposed to drop on the mark, is difficult and attended
+with few hits, but it trains one in estimating wind drift.
+
+An archer should also learn the elevation or trajectory at which his
+arrows fly at various distances. Shooting in the woods over hanging
+limbs may interfere with a good shot. In this case the archer can kneel
+and thus lower his flight to avoid interception.
+
+In kneeling it seems that the right knee should be on the ground, while
+the left foot is forward. This is a natural pose to assume during
+walking, and the left thigh should be held out of the way of the
+bow-string. When not in use, but braced, the bow should be carried in
+the left hand, the string upward, the tip pointing forward. It never
+should be swung about like a club nor shouldered like a gun.
+
+Shooting from horseback is not impossible, but it must be done off the
+left side of the horse, and a certain amount of practice is necessary
+for the horse as well as for the archer.
+
+It is surprising how accurately one can shoot at night. Even the
+dimmest outline will serve the bowman, and his shaft has an uncanny way
+of finding the mark.
+
+When it comes to missing the mark, that is the subject for a sad story.
+It takes an inveterate optimist to stand the moral strain of persistent
+missing. In fact, it is this that spoils the archery career of many a
+tyro--he gives up in despair. It looks so easy, but really is so
+difficult to hit the mark. But do not be cast down, keep eternally at
+practice, and ultimately you will be rewarded. Nothing stands a man in
+such good stead in this matter as to have started shooting in his
+youth.
+
+And do not imagine that we are infallible in our shooting. Some of the
+most humiliating moments of our lives have come through poor shooting.
+Just when we wanted to do our best, before an expectant gathering, we
+have done our most stupid missing. But even this has its compensations
+and inures us to defeat.
+
+It is a striking fact that we shoot better when confronted by the game
+itself. Under actual hunting conditions you will hit closer to your
+point than on the target field.
+
+Study every move for clean, accurate shooting, and analyze your
+failures so that you can correct your faults. Extreme care and utmost
+effort will be rewarded by greater accuracy.
+
+Other things being equal, it is the man who shoots with his heart in
+his bow that hits the mark.
+
+
+
+
+IX
+
+
+THE PRINCIPLES OP HUNTING
+
+
+In the early dawn of life man took up weapons against the beasts about
+him. With club, ax, spear, knife, and sling he protected himself or
+sought his game. To strike at a distance, he devised the bow. With the
+implements of the chase he has won his way in the world.
+
+Today there is no need to battle with the beasts of prey and little
+necessity to kill wild animals for food; but still the hunting instinct
+persists. The love of the chase still thrills us and all the misty past
+echoes with the hunter's call.
+
+In the joy of hunting is intimately woven the love of the great
+outdoors. The beauty of woods, valleys, mountains, and skies feeds the
+soul of the sportsman where the quest of game only whets his appetite.
+
+After all, it is not the killing that brings satisfaction, it is the
+contest of skill and cunning. The true hunter counts his achievement in
+proportion to the effort involved and the fairness of the sport.
+
+With the rapid development of firearms, hunting tends to lose its
+sporting quality. The killing of game is becoming too easy; there is
+little triumph and less glory than in the days of yore. Game
+preservation demands a limitation of armament. We should do well to
+abandon the more powerful and accurate implements of destruction, and
+revert to the bow.
+
+Here we have a weapon of beauty and romance. He who shoots with a bow,
+puts his life's energy into it. The force behind the flying shaft must
+be placed there by the archer. At the moment of greatest strain he must
+draw every sinew to the utmost; his hand must be steady; his nerves
+under absolute control; his eye keen and clear. In the hunt he pits his
+well-trained skill against the instinctive cunning of his quarry. By
+the most adroit cleverness, he must approach within striking distance,
+and when he speeds his low whispering shaft and strikes his game, he
+has won by the strength of arm and nerve. It is a noble sport.
+
+However, not all temperaments are suited to archery. There must be
+something within the deeper memories of his inheritance to which the
+bow appeals. A mere passing fancy will not suffice to make him an
+archer. It is the unusual person who will overcome the early
+difficulties and persevere with the bow through love of it.
+
+The real archer when he goes afield enters a land of subtle delight.
+The dew glistens on the leaves, the thrush sings in the bush, the soft
+wind blows, and all nature welcomes him as she has the hunter since the
+world began. With his bow in his hand, his arrows softly rustling in
+the quiver, a horn at his back, and a hound at his heels, what more can
+a man want in life?
+
+In America our hearts have heard the low whistle of the flying arrow
+and the sweet hum of the bowstring singing in the book, _The Witchery
+of Archery_ by Maurice Thompson. To Will and Maurice Thompson we owe a
+debt of gratitude hard to pay. The tale of their sylvan exploits in the
+everglades of Florida has a charm that borders on the fay. We who shoot
+the bow today are children of their fantasy, offspring of their magic.
+As the parents of American archery, we offer them homage and honor.
+
+Ernest Thompson Seton is another patron of archery to whom all who have
+read _Two Little Savages_ must be eternally grateful. Not only has he
+given us a reviving touch of the outdoors, but he puts the bow and
+arrow in its true setting, a background of nature.
+
+When Arthur Young, Will Compton, and I began hunting with the bow, we
+wrote Will Thompson to join us. Because he is such a commanding figure
+in the history of our craft, I think it proper to quote from one of his
+letters:
+
+"MY DEAR DR. POPE:
+
+"The _Sunset Magazine_ containing your charming account of Ishi and
+your hunting adventures, and the bunch of photographs of the transfixed
+deer, quail, and rabbits came duly, and are mine, now, tomorrow, and
+for life. You were very fortunate to have won your archery triumphs
+where you could photograph them. I would give much indeed if I could
+have photos of the scenes of my brother's and my successes in the
+somber and game-thronged wilds of the gloomy Okefinokee Swamp. I think
+I sent you long ago the two numbers of _Forest and Stream_ in which the
+history of that most wonderful of all my outings appeared. If I did not
+do so I will loan you the only copy I have. Let me know.
+
+"I am glad, so glad, that you young athletic men are following the wild
+trails armed with the most romantic weapon man ever fashioned, and I
+would give almost any precious thing I hold to fare with you once to
+the game land of your choice, and to watch and wait by a slender trail
+while you and your young, strong comrades stole through the secret
+haunts of the wild things, and to listen to the faint footfalls of the
+coming deer, roused by your entrance into their secret lairs. To see
+the soft and devious approach of the wary thing; to see the lifted
+light head turned sharply back toward the evil that roused it from its
+bed of ferns; to feel the strong bow tightening in my hand as the thin,
+hard string comes back; to feel the leap of the loosened cord, the jar
+of the bow, and see the long streak of the going shaft, and hear the
+almost sickening 'chuck' of the stabbing arrow. No one can know how I
+have loved the woods, the streams, the trails of the wild, the ways of
+the things of slender limbs, of fine nose, of great eager ears, of mild
+wary eyes, and of vague and half-revealed forms and colors. I have been
+their friend and mortal enemy. I have so loved them that I longed to
+kill them. But I gave them far more than a fair chance.
+
+"How many I have missed to one I have killed! How often the fierce
+arrow hissed its threat close by the wide ears! How often the puff of
+lifted feathers has marked the innocuous passage of my very best arrow!
+How often the roar of wings has replied to the 'chuck' of my
+steel-head shaft as it stabbed the tree branch under the grouse's feet!
+_Oh, le bon temps, que de siècle de fer_.
+
+"Let me know whether I sent you _Deep in Okefinokee Swamp_. I enclose
+you a little poem published long ago in _Forest and Stream_ and picked
+up by the _Literary Digest_ and other periodicals. You will, I think,
+feel the love of the bow, and the outdoors, as well as the great cry
+for the lost brother running through the long sob that pervades it.
+
+"Send me anything you publish, for I know I should be pleased. Love to
+you and a handgrasp to your comrade archers.
+
+"WILL THOMPSON."
+
+
+After the Civil War, where both youths fought in the Confederate Army
+and Maurice was wounded, they returned to their Southern home, broken
+in health, reduced in circumstances, and deprived of firearms by
+Government restrictions. They turned to the bow and hunting as
+naturally as a boy turns to play. Out of their experiences we have a
+lyric of exquisite purity, _The Witchery of Archery_.
+
+As a result of the interest stimulated by the recount of their
+exploits, the National Archery Association was established and held its
+first tournament at Chicago in the year 1879. It has ever since
+nurtured the sport and furthered competitive enthusiasm.
+
+Maurice later became a noted author, Will an attorney-at-law, the dean
+of American archers and a poet of remarkably happy expression. Here I
+feel at liberty to insert one of Will Thompson's verses, sent me in
+personal communications:
+
+  AN ARROW SONG
+
+  A song from green Floridian vales I heard,
+  Soft as the sea-moan when the waves are slow;
+  Sweeter than melody of brook or bird,
+  Keener than any winds that breathe or blow;
+  A magic music out of memory stirred,
+  A strain that charms my heart to overflow
+  With such vast yearning that my eyes are blurred.
+  Oh, song of dreams, that I no more shall know!
+  Bewildering carol without spoken word!
+  Faint as a stream's voice murmuring under snow,
+  Sad as a love forevermore deferred,
+  Song of the arrow from the Master's bow,
+  Sung in Floridian vales long, long ago.
+
+  WILL H. THOMPSON.
+
+  _A memory of my brother Maurice._
+
+The Thompsons devoted much of their bow shooting to birds. Not only did
+they hunt, but they studied the abundant avian life of the Florida
+coast.
+
+An archer must always, perforce, study animate nature and learn its
+ways before he can capture it. In our early training with Ishi, the
+Indian, he taught us to look before he taught us to shoot. "Little bit
+walk, too much look," was his motto. The roving eye and the light step
+are the signs of the forest voyageur.
+
+The ideal way for an archer to travel is to carry on his shoulders a
+knapsack containing a light sleeping bag and enough food to last him a
+week. With me this means coffee, tea, sugar, canned milk, dried fruit,
+rice, cornmeal, flour and baking powder mixture, a little bacon,
+butter, and seasoning. This will weigh less than ten pounds. With other
+minor appurtenances in the ditty bag, including an arrow-repairing kit,
+one's burden is less than twenty pounds, an easy load.
+
+If you have a dog, make him carry his own dry meal in little
+saddle-bags on his back, as Dan Beard suggests. Then, with two dozen
+arrows in your quiver, and your bow, the open trail lies ahead. There
+is always meat to be had for the shooting. The camp fire and your dog
+are companions at night, and at dawn all the world rolls out before you
+as you go. It is a happy life!
+
+When Ishi started to shoot with me, one bowman after another appeared
+on the scene to join us. Among the first came Will Compton, a man of
+mature years and many experiences. Brought up on the plains, he learned
+to shoot the bow with the Sioux Indians. As a boy of fourteen he shot
+his first deer with an arrow. From that time on, deer, elk, antelope,
+birds of all sorts, and even buffalo fell before this primitive weapon.
+He later hunted with the gun until the very ease of killing turned him
+against it. So when he came to us, he was a seasoned archer. Upon a
+visit to a Japanese archery gallery in the Panama-Pacific Exposition he
+met for the first time Arthur Young, also an expert hunter with the
+gun. A friendship sprang up between them, and Compton taught Young to
+shoot the bow.
+
+Compton had worked in the shop of Barnes, the bowmaker of Forest Grove,
+Oregon, and later he went into the Cascade Mountains and cut yew staves
+with an idea of selling them to the English bowyers. The Great War of
+1914 prevented this, and so we had an unlimited supply of yew wood for
+use.
+
+We three gravitated together and shot with Ishi until his last sickness
+and departure. Then our serious work began. We found it not only a
+delightful way of hunting, but a trio makes success more certain in the
+field.
+
+In California there is an abundance of game; small animals exist
+everywhere and there is no better training than to stalk the wary
+ground squirrel or the alert cottontail. These every archer should
+school himself to hit before he ventures after larger beasts.
+
+Infinite patience and practice are needed to make a hunter. He must
+earn his right to take life by the painful effort of constant shooting.
+
+We shot together, and many are the bags of game we filled. We
+discovered in the humble ground squirrel a delectable morsel more
+palatable than chicken; re-discovered it, we may say, because the
+Indian knew it first. In killing these little pests we take to the open
+fields, approach a burrow by creeping up a gully or dip in the land,
+rise up and shoot at such distances as we can. I recall one day when
+Young and I got twenty-four squirrels with the bow. Upon another
+occasion Young by himself secured seventeen in one morning; the last
+five were killed with five successive arrows, the last squirrel being
+forty-two paces away.
+
+Rabbits are best hunted in company. Here the startled rodent skips
+briskly off, down his accustomed run, only to meet another archer
+standing motionless, ready with his arrow.
+
+It seems legitimate with this rudimentary weapon to shoot animals on
+the stand, or set, a sporting permit not granted to the devotee of the
+shotgun, who has a hundred chances to our one.
+
+We found from the very first that the arrow was more humane than the
+gun. Counting all hunters, for every animal brought home with the gun,
+whether duck, quail, or deer, at least two are hit and die in pain in
+the brush.
+
+Just to illustrate this, Mr. Young reported to me the results of his
+shooting with a small rifle at ground squirrels. So expert is he that
+to hit a squirrel in any spot but the head is quite unusual. In one
+day's shooting between himself and his young son, they hit thirty-six
+animals, sixteen of these escaped and disappeared down their burrows,
+there to die later of their wounds.
+
+
+[Illustration: THE PATRON SAINTS OF AMERICAN ARCHERY, WILL AND MAURICE
+THOMPSON, AS THEY APPEARED IN 1878]
+
+
+With the arrow it is different. Not only is the destructive power as
+great as a small bullet, but the shaft holds the animal so that it
+cannot escape. Practically none are lost in our hunts. A strange
+phenomenon is seen in larger animals; they are easier to kill with an
+arrow than small ones. A shot in either the chest or abdominal cavity
+of a deer is invariably fatal in a few minutes; while a rabbit may
+carry an arrow off until the obstructing undergrowth checks his flight.
+It seems that their vital areas and blood vessels being smaller, are
+less readily injured by the missile. A bullet can crash into the brain
+of an animal, tear out a mass of tissue and generally shatter his
+structure, but cause little bleeding. An arrow wound is clean-cut and
+the hemorrhage is tremendous, but if not immediately fatal, it heals
+readily and does little harm. The pain is no greater with the arrow
+than with the bullet.
+
+Our hunting of squirrel and rabbits was merely preparatory to the
+taking of larger game; but even on our more pretentious expeditions, we
+fill the vacant hours with lesser shooting and fill the camp kettle
+with sweet tidbits.
+
+Many a quail, partridge, sage hen, or grouse has flown from the heather
+into our bag transfixed by a feathered shaft. Both Compton and Young
+have shot ducks and geese, some on the wing. But we cannot compete with
+the experiences of Maurice Thompson who, shooting ninety-eight arrows,
+landed sixteen ducks on the wing.
+
+Some amusing incidents have occurred in bird shooting. We consider the
+bluejay a legitimate mark any day; he is a rascal of the deepest dye,
+so we always shoot at him. Compton once tried one of his long shots at
+a jay on the ground nearly eighty yards off. His line was good, but his
+shot fell short. The arrow skidded and struck the bird in the tail just
+as he left the ground for flight. The two rose together and sailed off
+into space, like an aeroplane, with a preposterously long rudder, the
+arrow out behind. They slowly wheeled in a circle a hundred yards in
+diameter when the bird, nearing the archer, fell exhausted at his feet.
+Compton picked up the jay, drew the arrow from the shallow skin wound
+above his tail, and tossed him in the air. He disappeared with a volley
+of expletives.
+
+With an arrow it is also possible to shoot fish. Many wise old trout,
+incurious and contented, deep in the shadowed pool, have been coaxed to
+the frying pan through the archer's skill. Well I recall once, how
+shooting fish not only brought us meat, but changed our luck. Young and
+I were on a bear hunt. It had been a long, weary and unsuccessful quest
+of the elusive beast. Bears seemed to have become extinct, so we took
+to shooting trout in a quiet little meadow stream. Having buried an
+arrow in the far bank, with a short run and a leap Young cleared the
+brook and landed on the greensward beyond. The succulent turf slipped
+beneath his feet and, like an acrobat, the archer turned a back
+somersault into the cold mountain water. Bow, clattering arrows,
+camera, field glasses and man, all sank beneath the limpid surface.
+With a shout of laughter he clambered to the bank, his faithful bow
+still in his hand, his quiver empty of arrows, but full of water. After
+a hasty salvage of all damaged goods, we journeyed along, no worse for
+the wetting. But immediately we began to see bear signs and ultimately
+got our bruin. Young later said that if he had known the change of luck
+that went with a good ducking, he would have tried it sooner.
+
+We have often been asked if we do not poison our arrow points. Most
+people seem to have the idea that an arrow is too impotent to cause
+death; they conceive it a refined sort of torture and have no
+conception of its destructive nature.
+
+It is true that we thought at first of putting poison on our arrows
+intended for lions, and we did coat some broad-heads with mucilage and
+powdered strychnine, but we never used them. My physiologic experiments
+with curare, the South American arrow poison, aconitin, the Japanese
+Ainu poison, and buffogen, the Central American poison, had convinced
+me that strychnine was more deadly. It would not harm the meat in the
+dilution obtained in the blood, and it was cheap and effective.
+
+Buffogen is obtained by the natives by taking the tropical toad, Buffo
+Nigra, enclosing it in a segment of bamboo, heating this over a slow
+fire and gathering the exuded juice of the dessicated batrachian. It is
+a very powerful substance, having an action similar to that of
+adrenalin and strychnine.
+
+Salamandrine, an extract obtained from the macerated skin of the common
+red water-dog, is also violently toxic.
+
+But we had a disgust for these things. We soon learned, moreover, that
+our arrows were sufficient without these adjuncts, and we deemed it
+unsportsmanlike to consider them. Therefore, we abandoned the idea.
+
+Ishi knew of the employment of these killing substances, but he did not
+use them. In his tribe they made a poison by teasing a rattlesnake and
+having it strike a piece of deer's liver. This was later buried in the
+ground until it rotted, and the arrow points were smeared with this
+revolting material. It was a combination of crotalin venom and ptomaine
+poisons, a very deadly mess.
+
+We much prefer the bright, clean knife-blade of our broad-heads to any
+other missile.
+
+The principles involved in seeking game with the bow and arrow are
+those of the still hunt, only more refined.
+
+An archer's striking distance extends from ten to one hundred yards.
+For small animals it lies between ten and forty; for large game from
+forty to eighty or a hundred. The distance at which most small game
+flush varies with the country in which they live, the nature of their
+enemies, and the prevalence of hunters. Quail and rabbits usually will
+permit a man to approach them within twenty or thirty yards. This they
+have learned is a safe distance for a fox or wildcat who must hurl
+himself at them. It is quite a fair distance for any man with any
+weapon, particularly the bow.
+
+Most small game, especially rabbits, have sufficient curiosity to stand
+after their first startled retreat. Beneath a bush or clump of weeds
+they squat and watch on the _qui vive_. The arrow may find them there
+when it strikes, but often the very flash of its departure and the
+quick movement of the hand send the little beastie flying to his cover.
+Here two sportsmen working together succeed better; one attracts the
+rabbit's attention, the other shoots the shot.
+
+
+[Illustration: SHOOTING BRUSH RABBITS]
+
+
+[Illustration: ARCHERS IN AMBUSH]
+
+
+[Illustration: ISHI RIDING A HORSE FOR THE FIRST TIME]
+
+
+The marmot or woodchuck, is an impudent and cautious animal and he is a
+difficult mark for a bowman's aim. But nothing has more comic
+situations than an afternoon spent in a ground-hog village. After an
+incontinent scuttle to his burrow, an old warrior backs into his hole,
+then brazenly lifts his head and fastens his glittering eye upon you.
+The contest of quickness then begins; the archer and the marmot play
+shoot and dodge until one after the other all the arrows are exhausted
+or a hit is registered. The ground-hog never quits. I can recall one
+strenuous noon hour in an outcropping of rock where, between shattered
+arrows, precipitous chasing of transfixed old warriors, defiant
+whistlers on all sides, we piled up nearly a dozen victims.
+
+Quail hunting requires careful shooting, but it is good training for
+the bowman. A sentinel cock, sitting on a low limb, warns his covey of
+our approach, but he himself makes a gallant mark for the archer. I saw
+Compton spit such a bird on his arrow at fifty yards, while a confused
+scurrying flock made easy shooting for two hunters. I am ashamed to say
+that we have often taken advantage of the evening roosting of these
+birds in trees to secure a supper for ourselves.
+
+But the archer must exercise caution in this team work in the brush. He
+should never forget that an arrow will kill a man as readily as it does
+an animal and that one should always consider where his shot ultimately
+will land, both for the purpose of finding his shaft and avoiding
+accidents. Arrows have a great habit of glancing. Once when hunting
+quail in a patch of willow in a dry wash, Compton shot at a bird on a
+branch, missed it, and at the same instant Young, who was on the
+opposite side of the thicket, heard a thwack at his right and turned to
+find a broad-head arrow buried up to the barbs in a willow limb just
+the height of the heart. It gave us all pause for thought. Look before
+you shoot!
+
+While small game may be taken by tactics of moderate cunning, larger
+and more wary animals must be hunted by artful measures. Deer, still
+abundant in our land, and properly safeguarded by game laws, test the
+woodsman's skill to the utmost. To learn the art of finding deer, or
+successful approach and ultimate capture, one must study life in the
+open. Let him read the work of Van Dyke on still-hunting [1]
+[Footnote 1: _The Still-hunter_, by Van Dyke. The Macmillan Co.]
+to gain some idea of the many problems entailed.
+
+In our country we have the Columbia black tail deer. Of course, only
+bucks should be shot; as an old forest ranger said to me, "Does ain't
+deer." And no one but a starving man would shoot a fawn. Here bucks are
+hunted only in the fall, just as they shed their velvet and before the
+rutting season. At this time they keep pretty quiet in the brush or
+seek the higher lookout points on mountain ridges. They browse mostly
+at night and are to be met wandering to water or back to their beds.
+The older ones lie very quietly and seldom move far from their cover.
+Sometimes in the heat of the day they stir about or go to drink. The
+younger bucks are more audacious and seem to feel that their wisdom and
+strength can carry them anywhere. For this reason a two-year-old or
+forked horn is much more frequently brought down.
+
+It is interesting to note that even in this day of civilization and the
+extinction of wild life, deer are to be found within a radius of twenty
+miles from our largest cities in California. We, however, invariably
+journey by rail or motor car from fifty to three hundred miles to do
+most of our hunting. We seek those regions that are most primeval. Here
+game is largely in an undisturbed condition. From some station or
+outpost we pack with horses into the foothills or higher levels of the
+Coast Range or Sierra Nevada Mountains. Having made camp in a sheltered
+spot, we hunt on foot over the adjacent country.
+
+Just at dawn and at sunset are the favorite times for finding deer.
+
+The hunters rise from their sleeping bags, make a hasty meal of coffee
+and cakes, and long before the light of dawn sweeps the eastern sky,
+they must be on the trail. Silently and alert they enter the land of
+suspected deer. Taking advantage of every bit of cover, traveling into
+the wind where possible, looking at every shadow, every spot of moving
+color, they advance. Where trails exist they follow these, or if the
+ground be carpeted with soft pine needles, they flit between the deeper
+shades of the forest, watchful, and hearing every woodland sound.
+
+Often the crashing bound of a deer through the brush proves that
+cautious though the archer may be, more cautious is the deer. Or having
+seen him first, the archer crouches, advances to a favorable spot,
+gauges the distance, clears his eye, and nerves himself for a supreme
+effort. He draws his sturdy bow till the sharpened barb pricks his
+finger and bids him loose--a hit, a leap, a clattering flight. Watching
+and immovable, the archer listens with straining ears. He must not
+stir, he must not follow; later he can trail the quarry. Give the
+wounded deer time to lie down and die, then find him.
+
+It is a surprising experience to see animals stand and let arrows fall
+about them without fear. An archer has special privileges because he
+uses nature's tools.
+
+The whizzing missile is no more than a passing bird to the beast. What
+hurt can that bring? The quiet man is only an interesting object on the
+landscape, there is no noise to cause alarm. Most animals are ruled by
+curiosity till fright takes control. But some are less curious than
+others, notably the turkey. There is a story among sportsmen that
+describes this in the Indian's speech. "Deer see Injun. Deer say, 'I
+see Injun; no, him stump; no, him Injun; no, maybe stump.' Injun shoot.
+Turkey see Injun; he say, 'I see Injun.' He go!"
+
+The use of dogs in deer hunting should be restricted to trailing
+wounded animals. Here a little mongrel, if properly trained, serves
+better than a blooded breed. No dog should be permitted to run deer,
+especially if wounded. It is only the dog's nose we need, not his legs.
+An ideal canine for an archer would be one having the olfactory organs
+of a hound and the reasoning capacity of a college professor. With him
+one could trail animals, yet not flush them; perceive the imminence of
+game, yet not startle it; run coyotes, wolves, cougars, and bear, yet
+never confuse their scent nor abandon the quest of one for that of
+another. But as it is, no dog seems capable of doing all things, so we
+need specialists. A good bear and lion dog should never taste deer meat
+nor follow his tracks.
+
+
+[Illustration: A REST AT NOON]
+
+
+[Illustration: A LYNX THAT MET AN ARCHER]
+
+
+[Illustration: THE CHIEF LOOKING OVER GOOD DEER COUNTRY]
+
+
+A good coon dog should stick to coons and let rabbits alone. And the
+sort of dog an archer needs for deer is one that can point them, yet
+will not follow one unless it is wounded.
+
+Every good dog will come to the ringing note of the horn.
+
+And after all, there lies the soul of the sport. The fragrance of the
+earth, the deep purple valleys, the wooded mountain slopes, the clean
+sweet wind, the mysterious murmur of the tree tops, all call the hunter
+forth. When he hears the horn and the baying hound his heart leaps
+within him, he grasps his good yew bow, girds his quiver on his hip,
+and enters a world of romance and adventure.
+
+
+
+
+X
+
+
+THE RACCOON, WILDCAT, FOX, COON, CAT, AND WOLF
+
+
+Of all the canny beasts, Brother Coon is the wisest, and were it not
+for his imprudence and self-assurance, he would be less frequently
+captured than the coyote, who is also a very clever gentleman. As it
+is, a raccoon hunt is a nocturnal escapade that may be enjoyed by any
+lively boy or man who happens to own a coon dog.
+
+Now a coon dog is any sort of a dog that has a sporting instinct and a
+large propensity for combat. We have, of course, that product of
+culture and breeding, the coon hound, an offshoot from the English fox
+hound. This dog is a marvel in his own sphere.
+
+Although we have not devoted a great deal of time to coon hunting, one
+or another of our group has counted the scalps of quite a number of
+_Procyon lotor_. Having been accepted as a companion of one or two or
+more ambitious and enthusiastic dogs, we start out at dusk to hunt the
+creek bottoms for coons. Provided with bows, blunt arrows, and a
+lantern, we unleash the dogs, and the fun begins.
+
+One must be prepared to scramble through blackberry vines, nettles,
+tangled swamps, and to climb trees. The dogs busy themselves sniffing
+and working through the underbrush, crossing the creek back and forth,
+investigating old hollow trees, displaying signs of exaggerated
+interest and industry.
+
+Suddenly there is a change in their vocal expression. Heretofore the
+short, snappy bark has spoken only of anticipation and eagerness; now
+there comes the instinctive yelp of the questing beast, the hound on
+the scent. It bursts from them like a wail from the distant past. As if
+shot, they are off in a bunch. A clatter of sounds, scratching,
+rustling, and scrambling, we hear them tearing through the brush. We
+follow, but are soon outdistanced. Down the creek bed we go, splash
+through mud, clamber over logs, stop, listen, and hear them baying,
+afar off. Their voices rise in a chorus, some are high-pitched,
+incessant yelps, some are deep-voiced, bell-like tones. We know they
+have him treed and, breathless, we push forward, arriving in the order
+of our physical vigor, those with the best legs and lungs coming first.
+
+High up in a tree, out on a limb, we see a shadowy form and two glowing
+orbs--that is the coon. The dogs are insistent; since they cannot
+climb, although they try, man must rout the victim out. Somebody turns
+a flashlight on the varmint. Frank Ferguson is the champion coon
+hunter; so he draws a blunt arrow from his quiver, takes quick aim and
+shoots. A dull thud tells that he has hit, but the coon does not fall.
+Another arrow whistles past, registering a miss; then a sharp click as
+the blunt point of the third arrow strikes the creature's head, a
+stifled snarl, a falling body, a rush of dogs on the ground, and all is
+over. The hounds are delighted, and we count one chicken thief the
+less.
+
+Sometimes the coon becomes the aggressor. He boldly enters our camp at
+night and purloins a savory ham or rifles the larder and eats a pound
+of butter. He fully deserves what is coming to him. I loose Teddy and
+Dixie, my two faithful hounds. The morning mist is rising from the
+stream, the tree trunks are barely visible in the early dawn, the
+grasses drip with dew.
+
+The eager dogs take up the trail and start on a run up the stream bank.
+They cross on a great fallen tree and mount the wooded hill on the
+other side where I lose them in the jungle. I run on by instinct,
+listening for their directing bark. Once in a while I catch it faintly
+in the distance. They must be mounting rapidly and too busy to bark.
+Again it is audible far off to my left and I force my tired legs to
+renewed energy, climbing higher and higher.
+
+Up I mount through the forest, alert for the telltale yelp. There it
+is, a whine and faint, stifled guttural sounds, but so indistinct and
+so obscured by the prattle of the stream and the murmuring tree tops
+that I fail to locate it. So I flounder on through vines and
+underbrush, wondering where my dogs have gone. I blow the horn and
+Dixie answers with a pathetic howl, away off to the right. I run and
+blow the horn again; again that puppy whine. Teddy doesn't answer and I
+wonder how Dixie could have been lost, though after all, he is only a
+recent graduate from the kennel and unseasoned in this world of canine
+misery and wisdom. Unexpectedly, I come upon him, looking very
+disconsolate and somewhat mauled. There is no doubt about it, he has
+rushed in where angels fear to tread. He has received a recent lesson
+in coon hunting. So I console him with a little petting and ask him
+where is Teddy. Just then I hear a subterranean gurgle and scuffle and
+rushing off to a nearby clump of trees, I find that away down under the
+ground in a hollow stump, there is a death struggle going on--Teddy and
+the coon are having it out. From the sounds I know that Ted has him by
+the throat and is waiting for the end. But he seems very weak himself.
+As I shout down the hole to encourage him, the coon, with one final
+effort, wrests himself free from the dog and comes scuttling out of the
+hole. With undignified haste I back away from the outlet and fumble a
+blunt arrow on the string, and I am just in time, for here comes one of
+the maddest and one of the sickest coons I ever saw. With a hasty shot
+back of the ear, I bowl him over and put him out of his misery. Turning
+him over with my foot to make sure he is finished, I note how desperate
+the fight must have been. His neck and brisket are a mass of mangled
+flesh and skin. Then reaching deep down in the hole I grab poor
+exhausted Teddy by the scruff of his neck, lift him out, and let him
+regain his breath in the fresh air. He certainly is a weary champion.
+The coon has bitten him viciously between the legs and along the
+abdomen. After a while we all go down to the stream and there bathe the
+wounded heroes.
+
+With the rascally old coon over my shoulder, we three wander back to
+camp in time for congratulations and wonderment of the children and the
+consolation of hot victuals.
+
+That is a typical coon hunt with us. Some are less damaging to the
+dogs, but usually this little cousin of the bears is able to give a
+good account of himself in the contest.
+
+Ferguson and his pack of fox terriers have had more experience with the
+redoubtable raccoon than the rest of us; he hunts them for their pelts.
+He is also a trapper for the market and long since has found that the
+blunt arrow shot from a light bow serves very admirably for dispatching
+the captured varmint when once trapped.
+
+The fox is more difficult to meet in the wilds. His business hours are
+also at night, but he extends them not infrequently both into the
+sunrise and twilight zones. One of the most beautiful sights I ever
+witnessed came unexpectedly while hunting deer.
+
+It was evening; dusky shadows merged all objects into a common drab.
+Two silent, graceful foxes rose over the crest of a little eminence of
+ground before me. Outlined distinctly against a red dirt bank across
+the ravine, they stood just for a moment in surprise. I drew my bow and
+instantly loosed an arrow at the foremost. It flew swift as a
+night-hawk and with a rush of wind passed his head. As is usual at
+dusk, I had overestimated the distance. It was but forty yards; I
+thought it fifty.
+
+Half-startled, but not alarmed, the two foxes fixed their gaze upon me
+a second, then gracefully, and with infinite ease, they cleared a
+three-foot bush without a run and disappeared in the gloom.
+
+But in that leap I gained all the thrill that I missed with my arrow.
+Such facile grace I never saw. Without an effort they rose, hovered an
+instant in midair, straightened their wonderful bushy tails as an
+aeroplane readjusts its flight, and soared level across the obstacle.
+One final downward curve of that beautiful counterbalance landed them
+smoothly on the distant side of the bush where, with uninterrupted
+speed, they vanished from sight. For the first time I appreciated why a
+fox has such a light, long, fluffy caudal appendage. Marvelous!
+
+
+[Illustration: MR. COON BROUGHT INTO CAMP]
+
+
+[Illustration: A PRETTY PAIR OF WINGS]
+
+
+[Illustration: JUST A LITTLE HUNT BEFORE BREAKFAST]
+
+
+[Illustration: YOUNG AND COMPTON WITH A QUAIL APIECE]
+
+
+Often at night when coming late to camp through the woods, a fox has
+emerged from the outer sphere of darkness and given a querulous little
+bark at me. Wheeling with a bright light on the head, I could have shot
+him, but then he is such a harmless little denizen of the woods that I
+hate to kill him. But after all, is he really harmless? The little
+culprit! He actually does a deal of harm, destroying birds' nests,
+eating the young, catching quail and rabbits--I don't know that we
+should spare him.
+
+With horses and hounds we have chased many foxes over the sage and
+chaparral-covered hills.
+
+The fox terrier and the black and tan are excellent dogs for this sort
+of work. These little hunters are keen for the sport and make their way
+beneath the brush where a larger dog follows with difficulty. With
+strident yelps the pack picks up the hot trail, and off they rush,
+helter skelter, through the sage and chaparral; we circle and cross
+cut, dash down the draw, traverse the open forest meadow and follow the
+furious procession into the trees.
+
+There the hard-pressed little fox makes a final spurt for a large red
+pine, leaps straight for the bare trunk, mounts like a squirrel and
+gains a rotten limb, panting with effort. As we approach he climbs
+still higher and lodges himself securely in the crotch of the tree,
+gazing furtively down at the dogs.
+
+Who ever thought that a fox could climb such a tree! It was twenty feet
+to the first foothold on a decayed branch; yet there he was, and we saw
+him do it.
+
+Sometimes when the fleeing fox has mounted a smaller tree, we have
+shaken him from his perch and let the dogs deal with him as they think
+best--for a dog must not be too often cheated of his conquest or he
+loses heart. Sometimes we have mounted the tree and slipped a noose
+over the fox's neck, brought him close, tied his wicked little jaws
+tightly together with a thong, packed him off on the horse to show him
+to the children in camp, and later given him his liberty. Or, as in the
+case of our little villain up the pine tree, we have drawn a careful
+arrow and settled his life problems with a broad-head.
+
+In winter time the trap and the blunt arrow add another fur collar to
+the coat of the feminine sybarite.
+
+The woods and plains are full of hunters. The hawk is on the wing; the
+murderous mink and weasel never cease their crimes; the bird seeks the
+slothful worm and jumping insect; the fox, cat, and wolf forever quest
+for food. And so we, hunting in the early morning light, once saw a
+flock of quail flushed long before our presence should have given them
+cause for flight. Compton and Young, arrows nocked and muscles taut,
+crept cautiously to the thicket of wild roses out of which flew the
+quail. There, stooping low, they saw the spotted legs of a lynx softly
+stalking the birds. Aiming above the legs where surely there must be a
+body, Young sped an arrow. There was a thud, a snarl, and an animal
+tore through the crackling bushes. Out from the other side bounded the
+cat, and there, not twenty yards off, he met Compton. Like a flash
+another arrow flew at him, flew through him, and down he tumbled, a
+flurry of scratching claws, torn up grasses and dust. Young's arrow,
+having been a blunt barbed head, still lodged in his chest, and as the
+lynx succumbed to death I took his picture.
+
+Lazy, sleepy cat, both lynx and wildcats, we meet not infrequently on
+our travels. Still they are ever up to mischief in spite of their
+indolent casual appearance. Often have we seen them slink out from a
+bunch of cover, cross the open hillside, and there, if within range,
+receive an archer's salute. Many times we miss them, sometimes we hit;
+but that's not the point, we are not so anxious to get them as to send
+greetings.
+
+Then, too, since Ishi taught us to do it, we have called these wary
+creatures from the thicket and sometimes got a shot.
+
+With the dogs, the story is soon told and the rôle of the bowman is
+without triumph; so for this reason, we prefer the accidental meetings
+and impromptu adventures to the more certain contact. Still when at
+night we hear the tingling call of the lynx up in the woods, we yearn
+for a willing dog and a taut bowstring.
+
+With the distant barking wail of the prairie wolf or coyote, one feels
+differently. I presume that man has become so accustomed to the dog
+that he has rather a kindly feeling toward this little brother of the
+plains, called by the Aztecs coyote, or "wild one." We know his evil
+propensities and his economic menace, but still we love him, or at
+least, look upon him much as the Indians do, as a sort of comedian
+among animals.
+
+Ishi used to tell me of his laughable experiences with coyotes. When
+coming home at night with a haunch of venison on his shoulder, a band
+of these gamins of the wilds would follow him teasing at his heels.
+Ishi would turn upon them with feigned fury and chase them back into
+the shadows or wield his bow as a short lance and jab them vigorously
+in the ribs--when he could.
+
+With him the coyote was the reincarnation of a mythical character, half
+buffoon, half magician. He was cunning, crafty, humorous, and evil, all
+in one, and no doings of the animal folk ever progressed very far
+without the entrance of the "coyote doctor" on the scene. He was the
+doer of tricks and caster of spells, but still he himself met with
+misadventure--witness how he lost his claws. Of course, he had long
+claws like the bear in the beginning, and fine silky fur. But one
+night, coming weary from hunting and cold, he crept into a hollow oak
+gall to sleep. The wind fanned the embers of the camp-fire and the dry
+grass burst into a blaze. It swept up to the sleeping coyote, where
+only his feet protruded from his hollow spherical den. Here they hung
+out for lack of room. So, of course, his claws were burned off before
+the pain wakened him. He leaped out of his nest, dashed through the
+blaze, and plunged into the creek, not in time, however, to keep his
+beautiful long hair from being singed. Even to this day he has that
+half-scorched, moth-eaten pelt, and his claws are only those of a
+coyote.
+
+When met in the open, the prairie wolf seems so weary and listless. If
+at a distance, he protests at your entrance upon his domain with a
+forlorn wail, or insolently stares at you from a ridge. He sits and
+looks or moves about dyspeptically waiting for you to go.
+
+Once I remember that we saw one sitting on his haunches a hundred and
+eighty yards away. Compton loosed an arrow at him, one of those
+whining, complaining shafts that drone through the air. The coyote
+heard it coming; he pricked up his ears, pointed his nose skyward, rose
+and limped lively to the left, turned, peered into the sky, and ran a
+short distance to the right, then loped off just in time to be missed
+by the descending arrow, which landed exactly where he sat originally.
+It was indeed a most ludicrous performance, incidentally a splendid
+shot.
+
+Just as with a rifle, the coyote simply is not there when your missile
+strikes. He doesn't seem to bestir himself greatly, but just seems to
+drag himself out of harm's way at the last moment. How often have we
+let fly at him, sometimes at a group of them, but seldom has he been
+hit. A beginner's luck seems to fool him, however. One of our neophytes
+with the bow, having had his tackle less than a month, was out riding
+in his new automobile in company with a group of friends. The bow at
+that time was his vade-mecum; he never left it home. He chanced to see
+a stray coyote near the side of the highway when, after passing it a
+hundred yards or so, he stopped his machine, grabbed his trusty weapon,
+which he had hardly learned to shoot, strung it, nocked an arrow, and
+ran back to take a shot at the animal in question. His eagerness and
+obvious incapacity so amused the gay company in the machine, that they
+cheered him on with laughter and ridicule.
+
+Undaunted, our bowman hastened back, saw the crafty beast retreating in
+a slinking gallop, drew his faithful bow, and shot at sixty yards.
+Unerringly the fatal shaft flew, struck the coyote back of the ear and
+laid him low without a quiver.
+
+Mad with unexpected triumph, our archer dragged his slain victim back
+to the car to meet the jeering company, and confounded them with his
+success. Loud were the shouts of joy; a war dance ensued to celebrate
+the great event. When done the merry party cranked up the machine and
+sped on its fragrant way, a happier and a more enlightened bevy of
+children.
+
+Thus is shown the danger of utter innocence.
+
+These chance meetings seem rather unlucky for coyotes. Frank Ferguson,
+when trapping in the foothills of the Sierras, repeatedly had his traps
+robbed by an impudent member of the wolf family. One day while making
+his regular rounds and approaching a set, he saw in the distance a
+coyote run off with the catch of his trap. Seeing that the wolf turned
+up a branch creek, Ferguson cut across the intervening neck of the
+woods to intercept him if possible. He reached the stream bottom at the
+moment the coyote came trotting past. Having a blunt arrow on the
+bowstring, he shot across the twenty-five yards of bank, and quite
+unexpectedly cracked the animal on the foreleg, breaking the bone. A
+jet of blood spurted out with astonishing force, and the brute
+staggered for a space of time. This gave Ferguson a moment to nock a
+second shaft, a broad-head, and with that accuracy known to come in
+excitement, he drove it completely through the animal's body, killing
+it instantly. When next we met after this episode, he showed me the
+bloody arrows and wolf skin as mute evidence of his skill.
+
+Ferguson was won over to archery when, as packer upon our first trip
+together, he asked Compton to show him what could be done with the bow
+in the way of accurate shooting. Compton is particularly good at long
+ranges, so he pointed out a bush about one hundred and seventy-five
+yards distant. It was about the size of a dog. Compton took unusual
+care with his shots, and dropped three successive arrows in that bush.
+When "Ferg" saw this he took the bow seriously.
+
+The timber wolf is seldom met in our clime, and so for this reason he
+has been spared the fate common to all fearsome beasts that cross the
+trail of an archer. But with that fateful hope which has foreshadowed
+and seemingly insured our subsequent achievement, I fervently wish that
+some day we may meet, wolf and bowman.
+
+In the absence of this the more austere and wicked member of the
+family, we shall continue from time to time to speed a questing arrow
+in the general direction of the furtive coyote.
+
+
+
+
+XI
+
+
+DEER HUNTING
+
+
+Deer are the most beautiful animals of the woods. Their grace, poise,
+agility, and alertness make them a lovely and inspiring sight. To see
+them feed undisturbed is wonderful; such mincing steps, such dainty
+nibbling is a lesson in culture. With wide, lustrous eyes, mobile ears
+ever listening, with moist, sensitive nostrils testing every vagrant
+odor in the air, they are the embodiment of hypersensitive
+self-preservation. And yet deer are not essentially timid animals. They
+will venture far through curiosity, and I have seen them from the
+hilltop, being run by dogs, play and trifle with their pursuers. The
+dog, hampered by brush and going only by scent, follows implicitly the
+trail. The deer runs, leaps high barriers, doubles on his tracks, stops
+to browse at a tempting bush, even waits for the dog to catch up with
+him, and leads him on in a merry chase. I feel sure that unless badly
+cornered or confused by a number of dogs or wolves, the deer does not
+often develop great fear, nor is he hard put to it in these episodes.
+Quite likely there is an element of sport in it with him.
+
+Why men should kill deer is a moot question, but it is a habit of the
+brute. For so many hundreds of years have we been at it, that we can
+hardly be expected to reform immediately. Undoubtedly, it is a sign of
+undeveloped ethnic consciousness. We are depraved animals. I must admit
+that there are quite a number of things men do that mark them as far
+below the angels, but in a way I am glad of it. The thrill and glow of
+nature is strong within us. The great primitive outer world is still
+unconquered, and there are impulses within the breast of man not yet
+measured, curbed and devitalized, which are the essential motives of
+life. Therefore, without wantonness, and without cruelty, we shall hunt
+as long as the arm has strength, the eye glistens, and the heart
+throbs.
+
+Lead on!
+
+To go deer hunting, the archer should seek a country unspoiled by
+civilization and gunpowder. It should approach as nearly as possible
+the pristine wilderness of our forefathers. The game should be
+unharried by the omnipresent and dangerous nimrod. In fact, as a matter
+of safety, an archer particularly should avoid those districts overrun
+by the gunman. The very methods employed by the bowman make him a ready
+target for the unerring, accidental bullet.
+
+Never go in company with those using firearms; never carry firearms.
+The first spoils your hunting, and the second is unnecessary and only
+gives your critic a chance to say that you used a gun to kill your
+animal, then stuck it full of arrows to take its picture.
+
+On our deer hunts we first decide upon the location, usually in some
+mountain ranch owned by a man who is willing and anxious to have us
+hunt on his grounds. The sporting proposition of shooting deer with a
+bow strikes the fancy of most men in the country. If we are unfamiliar
+with the district, the rancher can give us valuable information
+concerning the location of bucks, and this saves time. Usually he is
+our guide and packer, supplying the horses and equipment for a
+compensation, so we are welcome. Some of the intimate relations
+established on these expeditions are among the pleasantest features of
+our vacation.
+
+Having reached the hunting grounds, we make camp. Tents are pitched,
+stores unpacked and arranged, beds made and all put in order for a stay
+of days or weeks.
+
+Each archer has with him two or more bows, and anywhere from two to six
+dozen arrows. About half of these are good broad-heads and the rest are
+blunts or odd scraps to be shot away at birds on the wing, at marks, or
+some are shot in pure exhilaration across deep canyons.
+
+As a rule, there are two or three of us in the party, and we hunt
+together.
+
+Having decided what seems the best buck ground, we rise before daylight
+and, having eaten, strike out to reach the proposed spot before
+sunrise. There we spread out, approximately a bowshot apart, that is to
+say, two hundred yards. In parallel courses we traverse the country;
+one just below the ridges where one nearly always finds a game trail;
+one part way down, working through the wooded draws; and the third
+going through the timber edge where deer are likely to lurk or bed
+down.
+
+In this way we cross-cut a good deal of country, and one or the other
+is likely to come upon or rout out a buck. With great caution we
+progress very quietly, searching every bit of cover, peering at every
+fallen log, where deer often lie, standing to scrutinize every
+conspicuous twig in anticipation that it may be horns. Does, of course,
+we see in plenty. So carefully do we approach that often we have come
+up within ten yards of female deer. Once Compton sneaked up on a doe
+nursing her fawn. He crept so close that he could have thrown his hat
+on them. While he watched, the mother got restless, seemed to sense
+danger without scenting or seeing it. She moved off slowly, pulling her
+teats out of the eager fawn's mouth, gave a flip to her hind legs and
+hopped over him, then meandered leisurely to the crest of the hill. The
+little fellow, unperturbed, licked his chops, ran his tongue up his
+nose, shook his ears, and seeing mother waiting for him, trotted away
+unaware of the possible danger of man. But we do not shoot does.
+
+So we travel. Sometimes a startled deer bounds down the hillside
+leaving us chagrined and disappointed. Sometimes one tries this and is
+defeated. One evening as we returned to camp, making haste because of
+the rapidly falling night, we startled a deer that plunged down the
+steep slope before us. Instantly Compton drew to the head and shot. His
+arrow led the bounding animal by ten yards. Just as the deer reached
+cover at a distance of seventy-five yards, the arrow struck. It entered
+his flank, ranged forward and emerged at the point of the opposite
+shoulder. The deer turned and dashed into the bush. As it did so the
+protruding arrow shaft snapped; we descended and picked up the broken
+piece. Following the crashing descent of the buck down the canyon, we
+found him some two hundred yards below, crumpled up and dead against a
+madrone tree. It was a heart shot, one of the finest I ever hope to
+see. Compton is a master at the judgment of distance and the speed of
+running game.
+
+Having worked out a piece of country by the method of sub-division, we
+meet at a pre-arranged rendezvous and plan another sortie.
+
+If the sun has not risen above the peaks, we continue this method of
+combing the land until we know the time for bucks has passed. For this
+reason we work the high points first, and the lower points last, for in
+this way we take advantage of the slowly advancing illumination.
+
+Sometimes, using glasses, we pick out a buck at a considerable
+distance, either in his solitary retreat, or with a band of deer; and
+we go after him. Here we figure out where he is traveling and make a
+detour to intercept him. This is often heartbreaking work, up hill and
+down dale, but all part of the game.
+
+Young and Compton brought low a fine buck by this means on one of our
+recent hunts. Seeing a three-pointer a mile distant, we all advanced at
+a rapid pace. We reached suitable vantage ground just as the buck
+became aware of our presence. At eighty yards Young shot an arrow and
+pierced him through the chest. The deer leaped a ravine and took refuge
+in a clump of bay trees. We surrounded this cover and waited for his
+exit. Since he did not come out after due waiting, Compton cautiously
+invaded the wooded area, saw the wounded deer deep in thought; he
+finished him with a broad-head through the neck.
+
+
+[Illustration: WOODCHUCKS GALORE!]
+
+
+[Illustration: PORCUPINE QUILLS TO DECORATE A QUIVER]
+
+
+[Illustration: A FATAL ARROW AT 65 YARDS]
+
+
+[Illustration: THE CHIEF AND ART GET A BUCK AT 85 YARDS]
+
+Not having had any large experience myself in hunting deer with
+firearms, the use of the bow presented no great contrast. Mr. Young has
+often said, however, that it gave him more pleasure to shoot at a deer
+and miss it with an arrow, than to kill all the deer he ever had with a
+gun. For my part, I did not want to kill anything with a gun. It did
+not seem fair; so until I took up archery, I did not care to hunt.
+
+Therefore, the analysis of my feelings interested me considerably as we
+began to have experiences with the bow.
+
+The first deer I shot at was so far off that there was no chance to hit
+it, but I let drive just to get the sensation. My arrow sailed
+harmlessly over its back. The next I shot at was within good range, but
+my arrow only grazed its rump. And that deer did something that I never
+saw before. It sagged in the middle until its belly nearly touched the
+ground, then it gathered its seemingly weakened legs beneath it, and
+galloped off in a series of bucks. We laughed immoderately over its
+antics; in fact, some of our adventures have been most ludicrous at
+times.
+
+Once, when two of us shot at an old stag together as it raced far off
+down the trail, the two arrows dropped twenty yards ahead of it.
+Instantly the stag came to an abrupt stop, smelled first one arrow at
+one side of the trail, and the other on the opposite side, deliberated
+a moment, bolted sidewise and disappeared. What he got in his olfactory
+investigation must have been confusing. He smelled man; he smelled
+turkey feathers; and he smelled paint. What sort of animals do you
+think he imagined the arrows to be?
+
+This reminds me that Ishi always said that a white man smelled like a
+horse, and in hunting made a noise like one, but apparently he doesn't
+always have horse sense.
+
+I saw this exemplified upon one occasion. When camped in a beautiful
+little spot we were disturbed by the arrival of a party of some four
+men, five horses, and three dogs--all heavily accoutred for the chase.
+With our quiet Indian methods, we caused little excitement in the land,
+but they burst in upon us with a fury that warned all game for miles
+around.
+
+The day after their arrival, alone on a trail, I heard one of this band
+approaching; half a mile above me his noise preceded him. Down he came
+over brush and stones. I stepped quietly beside a bush and waited as I
+would for an oncoming elephant. With gun at right shoulder arms,
+knapsack and canteen rattling, spiked shoes crunching, he marched past
+me, eyes straight ahead; walking within ten yards and never saw me.
+Twenty deer must have seen him where he saw one. That night this same
+man came straggling wearily into our midst and asked the way to his
+camp. He explained that he had put a piece of paper on a tree to guide
+him, but that he could not find the tree. We asked him what luck. He
+said that there were only does in the country. Perhaps he was right,
+because that is all they shot. We found two down in the gullies after
+they had gone. For a week they hunted all over the place with horses,
+guns, and dogs, and got no legitimate game. During this same time,
+beneath their very noses, we got two fine bucks. So much for the men of
+iron.
+
+The first buck I ever landed with the bow thrilled me to such an extent
+that every detail is memorable. After a long, hard morning hunt, I was
+returning to camp alone. It was nearly noon; the sun beat down on the
+pungent dust of the trail, and all nature seemed sleepy. The air, heavy
+with the fragrance of the pines, hardly stirred.
+
+I was walking wearily along thinking of food, when suddenly my outer
+visual fields picked up the image of a deer. I stopped. There, eighty
+yards away, stood a three-year-old buck, grazing under an oak. His back
+was toward me. I crouched and sneaked nearer. My arrow was nocked on
+the string. The distance I measured carefully with my eye; it was now
+sixty-five yards. Just then the deer raised its head. I let fly an
+arrow at its neck. It flew between its horns. The deer gave a started
+toss to its head, listened a second, then dipped its crest again to
+feed. I nocked another shaft. As it raised its head again I shot. This
+arrow flew wide of the neck, but at the right elevation. The buck now
+was more startled and jumped so that it stood profile to me, looking
+and listening. I dropped upon one knee. A little rising ground and
+intervening brush partially concealed me. As I drew a third arrow from
+my quiver its barb caught in the rawhide, and I swore a soft vicious
+oath to steady my nerves. Then drawing my bow carefully, lowering my
+aim and holding like grim death, I shot a beautifully released arrow.
+It sped over the tops of the dried grass seeming to skim the ground
+like a bird, and struck the deer full and hard in the chest. It was a
+welcome thud. The beast leaped, bounded off some thirty yards,
+staggered, drew back its head and wilted in the hind legs. I had stayed
+immovable as wood. Seeing him failing, I ran swiftly forward, and
+almost on the run at forty yards I drove a second arrow through his
+heart. The deer died instantly.
+
+Conflicting emotions of compassion and exultation surged through me,
+and I felt weak, but I ran to my quarry, lifted his head on my knee and
+claimed him in the name of Robin Hood.
+
+Looking him over, it was apparent that my second shaft had hit him in
+the base of the heart, emerged through the breast and only stopped in
+its flight by striking the foreleg. The first arrow had gone completely
+through the back part of the chest, severed the aorta, and flown past
+him. There it lay, sticking deep into the ground twenty yards beyond
+the spot where he stood when shot.
+
+After the body had been cleaned and cooled in the shade of an oak, we
+packed it home in the twilight, an easy burden for a light heart. This
+is the fulfilment of the hunter's quest. It was the sweetest venison we
+ever tasted.
+
+We have had little experience in trailing deer on the snow and none in
+the use of dogs to run them. Doubtless, the latter method under some
+conditions is admirable, particularly in very brushy countries.
+
+But we have preferred the still hunt. Lying in wait at licks we have
+done so to study animal life and in conjunction with the Indian to
+learn his methods, but neither the lick nor the ambush appealed to us
+as sport. In fact, we have hunted deer more for meat than for trophies,
+and quite a number of our kills have been in a way incidental to
+hunting mountain lions or other predatory animals.
+
+Once, when on a lion trail, the dogs ran down a steep trail ahead of
+me, and there in the creek bottom they started a fine large buck. On
+each side of the path the brush was very high, and up this corridor
+dashed the buck. There was no room for him to pass, and he came upon me
+with a rush. When less than twenty yards away, I hastily drew my bow
+and drove an arrow deep into his breast. With a lateral bound he
+cleared the brushy hedge and was lost to view. The dogs had been
+trained not to follow deer; but since they saw me shoot it, they ran in
+hot pursuit. I sounded my horn and brought them back, and scolded them.
+But fearing to lose the deer, I decided to go down to the ranch house,
+a couple of miles away, and borrow Jasper and his dog, Splinters. Now
+Splinters was some sort of a mongrel fise, an insignificant-looking
+little beast that had come originally from the city and presumably was
+hopelessly civilized. Jasper, however, had recognized in him certain
+latent talents and had trained him to follow wounded deer. He paid no
+attention to any scent except that of deer blood. In an accidental
+encounter with the hind foot of a horse, Splinters had lost the sight
+of one eye and the use of one ear; but in spite of the lopsided
+progression occasioned by this disability, he was infallible with
+wounded bucks.
+
+So Jasper came, and Splinters trotted along at his heels. At the spot
+where the deer leaped off the trail, we let the dog smell a drop of
+blood. After a deliberate, unexcited investigation, he began to wander
+through the brush. Occasionally he stopped to stand on his hind legs
+and nose the chaparral above him, then wandered on. Just about this
+time I stepped on a rattlesnake, and, after a hasty change of location,
+directed my efforts toward dispatching the snake. By the time I had
+finished this worthy deed, Jasper and Splinters were lost to view; so I
+sat down and waited. After a quarter of an hour I heard a distant
+whistle.
+
+Following Jasper's signal, I descended to the creek below me, went a
+short distance up a side branch, and there were all three--Jasper,
+Splinters, and the deer. The latter had made almost a complete circle,
+half a mile in extent, and dropped in the creek, not a hundred yards
+from his starting point.
+
+My arrow had caused a most destructive wound in the lungs and great
+vessels of the chest, and it was remarkable that the animal could have
+gone so far. We were of the opinion that if my own dogs had not started
+to run him, the deer would have gone but a short distance and lain down
+where in a few minutes we could have found him dead.
+
+While, after all, the object of deer hunting is to get your deer, it
+does seem that some of our keenest delight has been when we have missed
+it. So far, we have never shot one of those massive old bucks with
+innumerable points to his antlers; they have all been adolescent or
+prospective patriarchs. But several times we have almost landed the big
+fellow.
+
+Out of the quiet purple shadow of the forest one evening there stepped
+the most stately buck I ever saw. His noble crest and carriage were
+superb. On a grassy hillside, some hundred and fifty yards away, he
+stood broadside on. With a rifle the merest tyro might have bowled him
+over. In fact, he looked just like the royal stag in the picture.
+
+Two of us were together--a little underbrush shielded us. We drew our
+bows, loosed the arrows and off they flew. The flight of an arrow is a
+beautiful thing; it is grace, harmony, and perfect geometry all in one.
+They flew, and fell short. The deer only looked at them. We nocked
+again and shot. This time we dropped them just beneath his belly. He
+jumped forward a few paces and stopped to look at us. Slowly we reached
+for a third arrow, slowly nocked and drew it, and away it went,
+whispering in the air. One grazed his withers, the other pierced him
+through the loose skin of the brisket and flew past.
+
+With an upward leap he soared away in the woods and we sent our
+blessing with him. His wound would heal readily, a mere scratch. We
+picked up our arrows and returned to camp to have bacon for supper,
+perfectly happy.
+
+An arrow wound may be trivial, as was this one, or it may be
+surprisingly deadly, as brought out by an experience of Arthur Young.
+Once when stalking deer, the animal became alarmed and started to run
+away behind a screen of scrub oak. Young, perceiving that he was about
+to lose his quarry, shot at the indistinct moving body. Thinking that
+he had missed his shot, he searched for his arrow and found that it had
+plowed up the ground and buried its head deep in the earth. When he
+picked it up, he noted that it was strangely damp, but since he could
+not explain it, he dismissed the matter from his mind.
+
+Next day, hunting over the same ground, he and Compton found the deer
+less than a hundred and fifty yards from this spot. It had run, fallen,
+bled, risen and fallen down hill, where it died of hemorrhage. Their
+inspection showed that the arrow had struck back of the shoulder, gone
+through the lungs and emerged beneath the jaw. With all this it had
+flown yards beyond, struck deeply in the earth, and was only a trifle
+damp.
+
+Upon another occasion, while hunting cougars with a hound, I came
+abruptly upon a doe and a buck in a deep ravine. It was open season and
+we needed camp meat. Gauging my distance carefully, I shot at the buck,
+striking him in the flank. For the first time in my life, I heard an
+adult deer bleat. He gave an involuntary exclamation, whirled, but
+since he knew not the location or the nature of his danger, he did not
+run.
+
+My hound was working higher up in the canyon, but he heard the bleat,
+when like a wild beast he came charging through the undergrowth and
+hurled himself with terrific force upon the startled deer, bearing him
+to the ground. There was a fierce struggle for a brief moment in which
+the buck wrenched himself free from the dog's hold upon his throat and
+with an effort lunged down the slope and eluded us. Because of the many
+deer trails and because the hound was unused to following deer, night
+fell before we could locate him.
+
+Next day we found the dead buck, but the lions had left little meat on
+his bones--in fact, it seemed that a veritable den of these animals had
+feasted on him.
+
+The striking picture in my mind today is the fierceness and the savage
+onslaught of my dog. Never did I suspect that the amiable, gentle pet
+of our fireside could turn into such an overpowering, indomitable
+killer. His assault was absolutely bloodthirsty. I've often thought how
+grateful I should be that such an animal was my friend and companion in
+the hunt and not my pursuer. How quickly the dog adjusts himself to the
+bow! At first he is afraid of the long stick. But he soon gets the idea
+and not waiting for the detonation of the gun, he accepts the hum of
+the bowstring and the whirr of the arrow as signals for action. Some
+dogs have even shown a tendency to retrieve our arrows for us, and
+nothing suits them better than that we go on foot, and by their sides
+can run with them and with our silent shafts can lay low what they
+bring to bay. In fact, it is a perfect balance of power--the hound with
+his wondrous nose, lean flanks and tireless legs; the man with his
+human reason, the horn, and his bow and arrow.
+
+We who have hunted thus, trod the forest trails, climbed the lofty
+peaks, breathed the magic air, and viewed the endless roll of mountain
+ridges, blue in the distance, have been blessed by the gods.
+
+In all, we have shot about thirty deer with the bow. The majority of
+these fell before the shafts of Will Compton, while Young and I have
+contributed in a smaller measure to the count. Despite the vague
+regrets we always feel at slaying so beautiful an animal, there is an
+exultation about bringing into camp a haunch of venison, or hanging the
+deer on the limb of a sheltering tree, there to cool near the icy
+spring. By the glow of the campfire we broil savory loin steaks, and
+when done eating, we sit in the gloaming and watch the stars come out.
+Great Orion shines in all his glory, and the Hunters' Moon rises golden
+and full through the skies.
+
+Drowsy with happiness, we nestle down in our sleeping bags, resting on
+a bed of fragrant boughs, and dream of the eternal chase.
+
+
+
+
+XII
+
+
+BEAR HUNTING
+
+
+Killing bears with the bow and arrow is a very old pastime, in fact, it
+ranks next in antiquity to killing them with a club. However, it has
+faded so far into the dim realms of the past that it seems almost
+mythical.
+
+The bear has stood for all that is dangerous and horrible for ages. No
+doubt, our ancestral experiences with the cave bears of Europe stamped
+the dread of these mighty beasts indelibly in our hearts. The American
+Indians in times gone past killed them with their primitive weapons,
+but even they have not done it lately, so it can be considered a lost
+art.
+
+The Yana's method of hunting bears has been described. Here they made
+an effort to shoot the beast in the open mouth. Ishi said that the
+blood thus choked and killed him. But after examining the bear skulls,
+it seems to me that a shot in the mouth is more likely to be fatal
+because the base of the brain is here covered with the thinnest layers
+of bone. Arrows can hardly penetrate the thick frontal bones of the
+skull, but up through the palate there would be no difficulty in
+entering the brain. At any rate, it is here that the Yana directed
+their shots. Apparently, from Ishi's description, it took quite a time
+to wear down and slay the animal.
+
+All Indians seem to have had a wholesome respect for the grizzly, the
+mighty brother of the mountains, and they gave him the right of way.
+
+The black bear is, of course, the same animal whether brown or
+cinnamon, these color variations are simply brunette, blonde and auburn
+complexions, the essential anatomical and habit characteristics are
+identical.
+
+The American black bear at one time ranged all over the United States
+and Canada. He has recently become a rare inhabitant of the eastern and
+more thickly populated districts; yet it is astonishing to hear that
+even in the year of 1920 some four hundred and sixty-five bears were
+taken in the State of Pennsylvania.
+
+In the western mountains he is to be met with quite frequently, but is
+not given to unprovoked attack, and with modern firearms an encounter
+with him is not fraught with great danger. He, or more properly, she
+will charge man with intent to kill upon certain rare occasions--when
+wounded, surprised, or when feeling that her young are in danger. But
+the bear, in company with all the other animals of the wilds, has
+learned to fear man since gunpowder was invented. Prior to this time,
+it felt the game was more equal, and seldom avoided a meeting, even
+courted it.
+
+Bears are a mixture of the curious comedy traits with cunning and
+savage ferocity. In some of their lighter moods and pilfering habits,
+they add to the gayety of life.
+
+While hunting in Wyoming one night, on coming to camp we discovered a
+young black bear robbing our larder. He had a ham bone in his jaws as
+we approached. Hastily nocking a blunt arrow on my bowstring, I let fly
+at sixty yards as he started to make his escape. I did not wish to
+kill, only admonish him. The arrow flew in a swift chiding stroke and
+smote him on his furry side with a dull thud. With a grunt and a bound,
+he dropped the bone and scampered off into the forest while the arrow
+rattled to the ground. His antics of surprise were most ludicrous. We
+sped him on his way with hilarious shouts; he never came again.
+
+Upon a different occasion with another party, where the camp was
+bothered by the midnight foraging of a bear, our guide arranged to play
+a practical joke upon a certain "tenderfoot." Unknown to the victim, he
+tied a chunk of bacon to the corner of his sleeping bag with a piece of
+bale wire. In the middle of the night the camp was awakened by a
+pandemonium as the sleeping bag, man and all disappeared down the slope
+and landed in the creek bed below, where the determined bear, hanging
+on to the bacon, dragged the protesting tenderfoot. Here he abandoned
+his noisy burden and left the scene of excitement. No doubt, this goes
+down in the annals of both families as the most dramatic and stirring
+moment of life.
+
+Bear stories of this sort tend to give one the idea that these beasts
+can be petted and made trustworthy companions. In fact, certain
+sentimental devotees of nature foster the sentiment that wild animals
+need naught but kindness and loving thoughts to become the bosom friend
+of man. Such sophists would find that they had made a fatal mistake if
+they could carry out their theories. The old feud between man and beast
+still exists and will exist until all wild life is exterminated or is
+semi-domesticated in game preserves and refuges.
+
+Even domestic cattle allowed to run wild are extremely dangerous. Their
+fear of man breeds their desperate assault when cornered.
+
+The black bear has killed and will kill men when brought to bay or
+wounded or even when he feels himself cornered.
+
+Although largely vegetarian, bear also capture and devour prey. Young
+deer, marmots, ground squirrels, sheep, and cattle are their diet. In
+certain districts great damage is done to flocks by bears that have
+become killers. In our hunts we have come across dead sheep, slain and
+partially devoured by black bears. All ranchers can tell of the
+depredations of these animals.
+
+In Oregon and the northern part of California, there are many men who
+make it their business to trap or run bears with dogs to secure their
+hides and to sell their meat to the city markets. It is a hardy sport
+and none but the most stalwart and experienced can hope to succeed at
+it. In the late autumn and early winter the bears are fat and in prime
+condition for capture.
+
+Having graduated from ground squirrels, quail and rabbits, and having
+laid low the noble deer, we who shoot the bow became presumptuous and
+wanted to kill bear with our weapons. So, learning of a certain
+admirable hunter up in Humboldt County by the name of Tom Murphy, we
+wrote to him with our proposal. He was taken with the idea of the bow
+and arrow and invited us to join him in some of his winter excursions.
+
+In November, 1918, we arrived in the little village of Blocksburg, on
+the outskirts of which was Murphy's ranch. In normal times, Tom cuts
+wood, and raises cattle and grain for the market. In the winter months
+he hunts bear for profit and recreation. In the spring after his
+planting is done he also runs coyotes with dogs and makes a good income
+on bounties.
+
+We found Murphy a quiet-spoken, intelligent man of forty-five years,
+married, and having two daughters. I was surprised to see such a
+redoubtable bear-slayer so modest and kindly. We liked him immediately.
+It is an interesting observation that all the notable hunters that have
+guided us on our trips have been rather shy, soft-spoken men who
+neither smoked nor drank.
+
+Arthur Young and I constituted the archery brigade. We brought with us
+in the line of artillery two bows and some two dozen arrows apiece. We
+also brought our musical instruments. Not only do we shoot, but in camp
+we sit by the fire at night and play sweet harmonies till bedtime.
+Young is a finished violinist, and he has an instrument so cut down and
+abbreviated that with a short violin bow he can pack it in his bed
+roll. Its sound is very much like that of a violin played with a mute.
+
+My own instrument was an Italian mandolin with its body reduced to a
+box less than three inches square. It also is carried in a blanket roll
+and is known as the camp mosquito.
+
+Young is a master at improvising second parts, double stopping, and
+obbligato accompaniments. So together we call all the sweet melodies
+out of the past and play on indefinitely by ear. In the glow of the
+camp-fire, out in the woods, this music has a peculiar plaintive appeal
+dear to our hearts.
+
+With these charms we soon won the Murphy family and Tom was eager to
+see us shoot. He had heard that we shot deer, but he was rather
+skeptical that our arrows could do much damage to bear. So one of the
+first things he did after our arrival was to drag out an old dried hide
+and hang it on a fence in the corral and asked me to shoot an arrow
+through it. It was surely a test, for the old bear had been a tough
+customer and his hide was half an inch thick and as hard as sole
+leather.
+
+But I drew up at thirty yards and let drive at the neck, the thickest
+portion. My arrow went through half its length and transfixed a paw
+that dangled behind. Tom opened his eyes and smiled. "That will do," he
+said, "if you can get into them that far, that's all you need. I'll
+take you out tomorrow morning, but I'll pack the old Winchester rifle
+just for the sake of the dogs."
+
+The dogs were Tom's real asset, and his hobby. There were five of them.
+The two best, Baldy and Button, were Kentucky coon hounds in their
+prime, probably being descendants of the English fox hound with the
+admixture of harrier and bloodhound strains. Their breed has been in
+the family for thirty years. Tom took great pride in his pack, trained
+them to run nothing but bear and mountain lions, and never let anybody
+else touch them. When not hunting they are kept fastened by a sliding
+leash to a long heavy wire. Their diet was boiled cracked wheat and
+cracklings, raw apples, and bear meat. They never tasted deer meat or
+beef. I never saw more intelligent nor better conditioned hounds.
+
+With the same stock he has hunted ever since he was a boy, and their
+lineage is more important than that of the Murphys. He has taken from
+ten to twenty bears every winter with these dogs for the past thirty
+years.
+
+We were to stay right in Tom's house, and go by horseback to the bear
+grounds next morning. We had a supper which included bear steaks from a
+previous hunt, and doughnuts fried in bear grease, which they say is
+the best possible material for this culinary process, and later we
+greased our bows with bear grease, and our shoes with a mixture of bear
+fat and rosin. So we felt ready for bear.
+
+Then we spent a delightful evening with the family before the big
+fireplace, played our soft music, and all turned in for an early start
+in the morning.
+
+At four o'clock Tom began stirring around, building the fire and
+feeding the horses. An hour later we breakfasted and were ready to
+start. Light snow had fallen in the hills and the air was chill; the
+moon was sinking in the valley mist. These early morning hours in the
+country are strange to us who live so far from nature.
+
+We mount and are off. As we go the horses see the trail that we cannot
+discern, vague forms slip past, a skunk steals off before us, an owl
+flaps noiselessly past, overhanging brush sweeps our faces, the dogs
+leashed in couples trot ahead of us like spectres in procession.
+
+Thus we journey for nearly ten miles in the darkness, going up out of
+the valley, on to the foothills, through Windy Gap, past Sheep Corral,
+over the divide, heading toward the Little Van Duzen River.
+
+
+[Illustration: TOM MURPHY WITH HIS TWO BEST DOGS, BUTTON AND BALDY,
+INDISPENSABLE IN GETTING BEARS]
+
+
+All the while the dogs amble along, sniffing here and there at obscure
+scents, now loitering to investigate a moment, now standing and looking
+off into the dark. Tom knows by their actions what they think. "That's
+a coyote's trail," he says, "they've just crossed a deer scent, but
+they won't pay much attention to that." Their demeanor is
+self-possessed and un-excited.
+
+At last, just before dawn, we arrive on a pine-covered hillside and the
+dogs become more eager. This is the bear country. They cross the canyon
+here to get to the forest of young oak trees, beyond where the autumn
+crop of acorns lies ready to fatten them for their long winter sleep.
+
+Here is a bear tree, a small pine or fir, stripped of limbs and bark,
+against which countless bears have scratched themselves.
+
+Tom looses the dogs and sends them ranging to pick up a scent. They
+take to it with eagerness, and soon we hear the boom of the hounds on a
+cold track. Tom gets interested, but shakes his head. Last night's
+snowfall and later drizzle have spoiled the ground for good tracking.
+We dismount, tie our horses and follow the general direction of the
+pack. They must be kept within earshot so that when they strike a hot
+track we can keep up with them. If there is much wind and the forest
+noises are loud, Tom will not run his dogs for fear of losing them.
+Once on the trail of a bear, they never quit, but will leave the
+country rather than give him up.
+
+Expectation, stimulated by the distant baying of the running hounds,
+the cold gray shadows of the woods, and the knowledge that any moment a
+bear may come crashing through the undergrowth right where we stand,
+tends to hold one in a state of exquisite suspense--not fear, just
+chilly suspense. In fact, I was rather glad to see the sun rise.
+
+But nothing came of this hunt. We worked over the creek bottom below,
+rode over adjacent hills and canyons, struck cold trails here and there
+to assure us that bear really existed, then at about ten o'clock Murphy
+decided that weather conditions of the night before, combined with the
+dissipating effect of sunshine and the lateness of the hour, all
+dictated that we had best give up the game for that day.
+
+So back we rode, the dogs a trifle footsore, for they had covered many
+a mile in their ranging. Tom had shoes for them to wear when they are
+very lame at the first of the season. Later on, their feet become tough
+and need no protection. So we arrived back at the ranch empty-handed.
+
+Next day we rested, and rain fell.
+
+The day following we again tried a hunt and again failed to strike a
+hot track. Tom was perplexed, for it was a rare thing for him to return
+home without a bear. He rather suspected that the bows were a "jinx"
+and brought bad luck. So again we rested the dogs and waited for a
+change of fortune.
+
+The time between hunts Young and I spent shooting rabbits. Once when
+down on the stream bank looking for trout, Young saw a female duck
+diving beneath the surface of the water. As it rose he shot it with an
+arrow and nocking a second shaft, he prepared to deliver a finishing
+blow if necessary, when up the stream he heard the whirring wings of a
+flying duck; instantly he drew his bow, glanced to the left, and shot
+at the rapidly approaching male. Pinioned through the wings, it dropped
+near the first victim and he gathered the two as a tidbit for supper.
+
+These things do happen between our larger adventures, and delight us
+greatly.
+
+The evenings we spent before the fire, played music, and I performed
+sleights of hand, much to the wonderment of the rural audience that
+gathered to see the strangers who expected to kill bears with bows and
+arrows. After numerous coin tricks, card passes, mysterious
+disappearances, productions of wearing apparel and cabbages from a hat,
+and many other incredible feats of prestidigitation, they were almost
+ready to believe we might slay bears with our bows.
+
+Tom's dogs having recovered from our previous unsuccessful trips, we
+started again one crisp frosty morning with the stars all aglitter
+overhead. This time we were sure of good luck. Mrs. Murphy was positive
+we would bring home a bear; she felt it in her bones.
+
+It is cold riding this time in the morning, but it is beautiful. The
+snow-laden limbs of the firs drop their loads upon us as we pass, the
+twigs are whip-like in their recoil as they strike our legs; the horses
+pick their way with surefooted precision, and we wonder what adventures
+wait for us in the silent gloom.
+
+This time we rode far. If bears were to be had any place, they could be
+found in Panther Canyon, below Mt. Lassie.
+
+By sunrise we reached the ridge back of the desired spot where we tied
+our horses preparatory to climbing up the gulch. The dogs were made
+ready; there were only three of them this time: Button, Baldy, and old
+Buck, the shepherd dog. Immediately they struck a cold trail and danced
+around in a circle, baying with long deep bell tones, pleading to be
+released. My breath quivers at the memory of them. Murphy unclasped the
+chains that linked them together and they scampered up the precipitous
+ravine before us. As they passed, Tom pointed out bear tracks, the
+first we had seen.
+
+In less than ten minutes the full-throated bay of the hounds told us
+that they had struck a hot track and routed the bear from his temporary
+den.
+
+That was the signal for speed, and we began a desperate race up the
+side of the mountain. Nothing but perfect physical health can stand
+such a strain. One who is not in athletic training will either fail
+completely in the test or do his heart irreparable damage.
+
+But we were fit; we had trained for the part. Stripped for action, we
+were dressed in hunting breeches, light high-topped shoes spiked on the
+soles, in light cotton shirts, and carried only our bows, quivers of
+arrows, and hunting knives. Tom was a seasoned mountain climber, born
+on the crags, and had knees like a goat. So we ran. Up the side and
+over the crest we sped. The bay of the hounds pealed out with every
+bound ahead of us. As we crossed the ridge, we heard them down the
+canyon below us, the crashing of the bear and the cry of the dogs
+thrilled us with a very old and a very strong flood of emotions.
+Panting and flushed with effort we rushed onward; legs, legs, and more
+air, 'twas all we wanted. Tom is tough and used to altitudes, Young is
+stronger and more youthful than I am, and besides a flapping quiver, an
+unwieldy bow, my camera banged me unmercifully on the back. Still I
+kept up very well, and my early sprinting on the cinder track came to
+my aid. We stuck together, but just as I had about decided that running
+was a physical impossibility, Tom shouted, "He is treed." That was a
+welcome word. We slackened our pace, knowing that the dogs would hold
+him till we arrived, and we needed our breath for the next act. So on a
+trot we came over a rise of ground and saw, away up on the limb of a
+tall straight fir tree, a bear that looked very formidable and large.
+The golden rays of the rising sun were shining through his fur.
+
+That was the first bear I had ever seen in the open, first wild bear,
+first bear with no iron bars between him and me. I felt peculiar.
+
+The dogs were gathered beneath the tree keeping up a chorus of yelps
+and assaulting its base as if to tear it to pieces. The bear apparently
+had no intention of coming down.
+
+Tom had instructed us fully what to do; so we now helped him catch his
+dogs and tie them with a rope which he held. He did this because he
+knew that if we wounded the bear and he descended there was going to be
+a fight, and he didn't want to lose his valuable dogs in an experiment.
+He had his gun to take care of himself, and Young and I were supposed
+to stand our share of the adventure as best we could.
+
+Keen with anticipation of unexpected surprises; wondering, yet willing
+to take a chance, we prepared to shoot our first bear. We stationed
+ourselves some thirty yards from the base of the tree. The bear was
+about seventy-five feet up in the air, facing us, looking down and
+exposing his chest.
+
+We drew our arrows together and a second later released as one man.
+Away flew the two shafts, side by side, and struck the beast in the
+breast, not six inches apart. Like a flash, they melted into his body
+and disappeared forever. He whirled, turned backward, and began sliding
+down the tree.
+
+Ripping and tearing the trunk, he descended almost as if falling, a
+shower of bark preceding him like a cartload of shingles. Tom shouted,
+"You missed him, run up close and shoot him again!" From his side of
+the tree he couldn't see that our arrows had hit and gone through, also
+he was used to seeing bear drop when he hit them with a bullet.
+
+But we were a little diffident about running up close to a wounded
+bear, for Tom had told us it would fight when it got down.
+Nevertheless, we nocked an arrow again, and just as he reached the
+ground we were close by to receive him. We delivered two glancing blows
+on his rapidly falling body. When he landed, however, he selected the
+lower side of the tree, away from us, and bounded off down the canyon.
+We protested that we had hit him and begged Tom to turn his dogs loose.
+After a moment's deliberation, Tom let old Buck go and off he tore in
+hot pursuit. The shepherd was a wily old cattle dog and would keep out
+of harm.
+
+Soon we heard him barking and Murphy exclaimed incredulously, "He's
+treed again!" Button and Baldy were unleashed and once more we started
+our cross-country running. Through maple thickets, over rocky sides,
+down the wooded canyon we galloped. Much sooner than we expected, we
+came to our bear. Hard pressed, he had climbed a small oak and crouched
+out on a swaying limb. We could see that he was heaving badly, and was
+a very sick animal. His gaze was fixed on the howling dogs. Young and I
+ran in close and shot boldly at his swaying body. Our arrows slipped
+through him like magic. One was arrested in its course as it buried
+itself in his shoulder. Savagely he snapped it in two with his teeth,
+when another driven by Young with terrific force struck him above the
+eye. He weakened his hold, slipped backward, dropped from the bending
+limb and rolled over and over down the ravine. The dogs were on him in
+a rush, and wooled him with a vengeance. But he was dead by the time he
+reached the creek bottom. We clambered down, looked him over with awe,
+then Young and I shook hands across the body of our first bear. We took
+his picture.
+
+Tom opened up the chest and abdominal cavity, explored the wounds and
+was full of exclamations of surprise at the damage done by our arrows.
+He agreed that our animal was mortally wounded with our first two
+shots, and had we let him alone there would have been no necessity for
+more arrows. But this being our very first bear, we had overdone the
+killing.
+
+So he gave the liver and lungs to the waiting hounds as a reward for
+their efforts, and cleaned the carcass for carrying. We found the
+stomach full of acorn mush, just as clean and sweet as a mess of
+cornmeal.
+
+Murphy left us to pack the bear up on the pine flat above, while he
+went around three or four miles to get the horses. After a strenuous
+half hour, we got our bear up the steep bank and rested on the flat.
+Here we ate our pocket lunch.
+
+As we sat there quietly eating, we heard a rustle in the woods below
+us, and looking up, saw another good-sized black bear about forty yards
+off. I had one arrow left in my quiver, Young only two broken shafts,
+the rest we had lost in our final scramble. So we passed no insulting
+remarks to the bear below, who suddenly finding our presence, vanished
+in the forest. We had had enough bear for one day, anyhow.
+
+Tom came with the horses, and loaded our trophy on one. Ordinarily a
+horse is greatly frightened at bears, and difficult to manage, but
+these were long ago accustomed to the business. It interested us to see
+the method of tying the carcass securely on a common saddle. By placing
+a clove hitch on the wrists and ankles and cinching these beneath the
+horse's belly with a sling rope through the bear's crotch and around
+its neck, the body was held suspended across the saddle and rode easily
+without shifting until we reached home.
+
+Adult black bear range in weight from one hundred to five hundred
+pounds. Ours, although he had looked very formidable up the tree, was
+really not a very large animal and not fully grown. After cleaning, it
+tipped the scales at a little below two hundred pounds. But it was
+large enough for our purposes, and we couldn't wait for it to grow any
+heavier. It was no fault of ours that it was only some three or four
+years old. We felt that even had it been one of those huge old boys, we
+would have conquered him just the same. In fact, we had begun to count
+ourselves among the intrepid bear slayers of the world. So we returned
+to the ranch in triumph.
+
+
+[Illustration: YOUNG AND I ARE VERY PROUD OF OUR MAIDEN BEAR]
+
+
+Next day we took our departure from Blocksburg and bade the Murphys an
+affectionate farewell. The bear we carried with us wrapped in canvas to
+distribute in luscious steaks to our friends in the city. The beautiful
+silky pelt now rests on the parlor floor of Young's home with a
+ferocious wide open mouth waiting to scare little children, or trip up
+the unwary visitor.
+
+Since this, our maiden bear, we have had various other encounters with
+bruin. Once while hunting mountain lions, we came upon the body of an
+angora goat recently killed by a bear. The ground was covered with his
+ungainly footprints. We set the dogs on the scent and off they went,
+booming in hot pursuit. Running like wild Indians, Young and I followed
+by ear, bows ready strung and quivers held tightly to our sides. In
+less than ten minutes, we burst into a little open glade in the forest
+and saw up in a large madrone tree, a good-sized cinnamon bear
+fretfully eyeing the dogs below.
+
+We had lost our apprehension concerning the outcome of an encounter
+with bears, so we coolly prepared to settle his fate. In fact, we even
+discussed the problem whether or not we should kill him. We were not
+after bears, but lions. This fellow, however, was a rogue, a killer of
+sheep and goats. He had repeatedly thrown our dogs off the track with
+his pungent scent and we were strictly within our hunting rights if we
+wanted him. We therefore drew our broadheads to the barb and drove two
+wicked shafts deep into his front. As if knocked backwards, the bear
+reared and threw himself down the slanting tree trunk. As he reached
+the ground, one of our dogs seized him by the hind leg and the two went
+flying past us within a couple of yards, the dog hanging on like grim
+death. Furiously, the other dogs followed and we leaped to the chase.
+
+This time the course of the bear was marked by a swath of broken brush.
+It dashed headlong through the forest regardless of obstruction. Small
+trees in his way meant nothing to him; he ran over them, or if old and
+brittle, smashed them down. Into the densest portion of the woods he
+made his way. Not more than three hundred yards from the spot he
+started, he treed again. In an almost impenetrable thicket of small
+cedars, the dogs sent up their chorus of barks. I dashed in, fighting
+my way free from restraining limbs, the bow and quiver holding me again
+and again. Young got stuck and fell behind, so that I came alone upon
+our bear at bay. He had mounted but a short distance up a mighty oak
+and hung by his claws to the bark. I had run beneath him before seeing
+his position. Instantly I recognized the danger of the situation and
+backed off, away from the tree, at the same time nocking an arrow on
+the string. I glanced about for Young, but he was detained, so I drew
+the head and discharged my arrow right into the heart region of our
+beast, where it buried its point. Loosening his hold, the bear fell
+backward from the tree and landed on the nape of his neck. He was weak
+with mortal wounds, and even had he wanted to charge me, the combat
+could not have progressed far. But instantly the dogs were on him.
+Seizing him by the front and back legs, they dragged him around a small
+tree, holding him firmly in spite of his struggles, while he bawled
+like a lost calf. The din was terrific; snarling, snapping dogs, the
+crashing underbrush, and the bellowing of bear made the world hideous.
+It seemed that the pain of our arrows was nothing to him compared to
+his fear of the dogs, and when he felt himself helpless in their power,
+his morale was completely shattered.
+
+It was soon over; hardly a minute elapsed before his resistless form
+lay still, and even the dogs knew he was dead. Poor Young arrived at
+this moment, having just extricated himself from the brush.
+
+We skinned the pelt to make quivers, took his claws for decorations,
+and cut some sweet bear steaks from his hams; the rest we gave to the
+pack.
+
+It seems a very proper thing that the service of the dogs should always
+be recognized promptly, that they be given their share of the spoils
+and that they be praised for their courage and fidelity. This makes
+them better hunters. Stupid men who drive off their dogs from the
+quarry, defer their rewards, and grudge them praise, kill the spirit of
+the chase within them and spoil them for work.
+
+Hounds have the finest hunting spirit of any animal. The team work of
+the wolf and their intelligent use of strategy is one of the most
+striking evidences of community interests in animal life.
+
+The fellowship between us and our dogs is a most satisfactory relation.
+Since prehistoric times, the hunter has taken advantage of the
+comradeship and on it rests the mutual dependence and trust of the two.
+
+Altogether, bringing bears to bay is among the most thrilling
+experiences of life. It is a primitive sport and as such it stirs up in
+the human breast the primordial emotions of men. The sense of danger,
+the bodily exhaustion, the ancestral blood lust, the harkening bay of
+the hounds, the awe of deep-shadowed forests, and the return to an
+almost hand-to-claw contest with the beast, call upon a latent manhood
+that is fast disappearing in the process of civilization.
+
+I hope there always will be bears to hunt and youthful adventurers to
+chase them.
+
+
+
+
+XIII
+
+
+MOUNTAIN LIONS
+
+
+The cougar, panther, or mountain lion is our largest representative of
+the cat family. Early settlers in the Eastern States record the
+existence of this treacherous beast in their conquest of the forests.
+The cry of the "painter," as he was called, rang through the dark woods
+and caused many hearts to quaver and little children to run to mother's
+side. Once in a while stories came of human beings having met their
+doom at the swift stealthy leap of this dreaded beast. He was bolder
+then than now. Today he is not less courageous, but more cautious. He
+has learned the increased power of man's weapons.
+
+Our Indians knew that he would strike, as they struck, without warning
+and at an advantage. It is a matter of tradition among frontiersmen
+that he has upon rare occasions attacked and killed bears. Even today
+he will attack man if provoked by hunger, and can do so with some
+assurance of success, the statements of certain naturalists to the
+contrary notwithstanding.
+
+John Capen Adams, in his adventures, [1]
+[Footnote 1: _The Adventures of James Capen Adams of California_, by
+Theodore H. Hittell.]
+describes such an episode. The lion in this instance sprang upon a
+companion, seized him by the back of the neck, and bore him to the
+ground. He was only saved from death by a thick buckskin collar to his
+coat and the ready assistance of Adams who heard the cry for help.
+
+I know of an instance where a California lion leaped upon some bathing
+children and attempted to kill them, but was driven off by the heroic
+efforts of a young woman school teacher, who in turn died of her
+wounds.
+
+Those of us who have roamed the wilds of the western country have had
+varying experiences with this animal, while others have lived their
+lives in districts undoubtedly infested with cougars and have never
+seen one, although nearly every mountain rancher has heard that
+hair-raising, almost human scream echo down the canyon. It is like the
+wail of a woman in pain. Penetrating and quavering, it rings out on the
+night gloom, and brings to the human what it must, in a similar way,
+bring to the lesser animals a sense of impending attack, a death
+warning. It is part of the system of the predatory beast that he uses
+fear to weaken the powers of his prey before he assaults it. Animal
+psychology is essentially utilitarian. Cowering, trembling, muscularly
+relaxed, on the verge of emotional shock, we are easier to overcome.
+
+The cougar lives principally on deer. His kill averages more than one a
+week, and often we may find evidence that this murderer has wantonly
+slain two or three deer in a single night's expedition.
+
+It is not his habit to lie in wait on the limb of a tree, though he
+often sleeps there; but he makes a stealthy approach on the
+unsuspecting victim, then, with a series of stupendous bounds, he
+throws himself upon the deer, and by his momentum bears it to the
+ground. Here, while he holds on with teeth and forelegs, he rips open
+the flank with his hind claws and immediately plunges his head into the
+open abdomen, where he tears the great blood vessels with his teeth and
+drinks its life blood.
+
+These are facts learned from lion hunters whose observations are
+accurate and reliable. A lion can jump a distance greater than
+twenty-four feet, and has been seen to ascend at a single leap a cliff
+of rock eighteen feet high.
+
+Their weight runs from one hundred to two hundred pounds, and the
+length from six to nine feet. The skin will stretch farther than this,
+but we count only the carcass from the tip of the nose to the tip of
+the extended tail. The speed of a lion for a short distance is greater
+than that of a greyhound, less than five seconds to the hundred yards.
+
+Some observers contend that the lion never gives that blood-curdling
+cry assigned to him. They say he is silent, and that this classic
+scream is made by a lynx in the mating period. However, popular
+experience to the contrary seems to be too strong and counterbalances
+this iconoclastic opinion.
+
+For many years, off and on, we have hunted lions, but sad to say, we
+have done more hunting than finding. They are a very wary creature.
+Practically, one never sees them unless hunting with dogs; they may be
+in the brush within thirty yards, but the human eye will fail to
+discern them.
+
+Our camps have been robbed by lions, our horses killed by them, cattle
+and sheep ruthlessly murdered; lion tracks have been all about, and yet
+unless trapped or treed by dogs, we have never met.
+
+Camping at the base of Pico Blanco, in Monterey County, several years
+ago, a lion was seen to bound across the road and follow a small band
+of deer. At this very spot a few seasons before one leaped upon an old
+mare with foal and broke her neck as she crashed through the fence and
+rolled down the hill. Three years later I rode the young horse. As we
+passed the tree from which it is thought the lion sprang, where the
+broken fence was still unmended, my colt jumped and reared, the memory
+of his fright was still vivid in his mind. Up the trail a half mile
+beyond we saw other fresh lion tracks. At night we camped on the ridge
+with our dogs in hope that our feline friend would come again.
+
+It was too late to hunt that evening, so we turned in. Nothing happened
+save that in the middle of the night I was roused by the whine of our
+dogs, and looking up in the face of the pale moon, I saw two deer go
+bounding past, silhouetted like graceful phantoms across the silvered
+sky. They swept across the lunar disc and melted into blackness over
+the dark horizon.
+
+No sound followed them, and having appeased the fretful hounds, we
+returned to sleep. In the morning, up the trail, there were his tracks;
+too wise to cross the human scent, and knowing that there are more deer
+in the brush, he had turned upon his course and let his quarry slip.
+
+Because of the heat and the inferior tracking capacity of our dogs, we
+never got this panther. A lion dog is a specialist and must be so
+trained that no other track will divert him from his quest. These dogs
+were willing, but erratic.
+
+The best dogs for this work are mongrels. By far the finest lion dog I
+ever saw was a cross between a shepherd and an airedale. He had the
+intelligence of the former and the courage of the latter. The airedale
+himself is not a good trailer, he is too temperamental. He will start
+on a lion track, jump off and chase a deer and wind up by digging out a
+ground squirrel. After a good hound finds a lion, the airedale will
+tackle him.
+
+We once started an airedale on a lion track, followed him at a fiendish
+pace, dashed down the side of a mountain, and found that he had an
+angora goat up a tree.
+
+This cougar on Pico Blanco still roams the forests, so far as I know,
+and many with him. Once we saw him across a canyon. He appeared as a
+tawny slow-moving body as large as a deer but low to the earth and
+trailing a listless tail, while his head slowly swung from side to
+side. He seemed to be looking for something on the ground. For the
+space of a hundred yards we watched him traverse an open side hill,
+deep in ferns and brakes. Seeing him thus was little satisfaction to
+us, for we had lost our dogs. Ferguson and I were returning from one of
+our unsuccessful expeditions.
+
+We started with two saddle horses, a pack animal, and five good lion
+dogs. On the trail to the Ventana Mountains we came across lion tracks
+and followed them for a day, then lost them; but we knew that a large
+male and young female were ranging over the country. Their circuit
+extended over a radius of ten miles; they are great travelers.
+
+The track of a lion is characteristic. The general contour is round,
+from three to four inches in diameter. There are four toe prints
+arranged in a semicircle which show no claw marks. But the ball of the
+foot is the unmistakable feature. It consists of three distinct
+eminences or pads which lie parallel, antero-posteriorly, and appear in
+the track as if you had pressed the terminal phalanges of your fingers
+side by side in the dust. These marks are nearly equal in length and
+absolutely identify the big cat.
+
+On the morning of the second day of our trailing this lion, our pack
+was working down in the thick brush below the crest of Rattlesnake
+Ridge, when suddenly they raised a chorus of yelps. There was a rush of
+bodies in the chamise brush, and the chase was on at a furious pace. We
+rode up to an observation point and saw the dogs speeding down the
+canyon side, close on the heels of a yellow leaping demon. They
+switched from side to side, as cat and dog races have been carried on
+since time immemorial.
+
+The undergrowth was so dense we could not follow, so we sat our horses
+and waited for them to tree. But further and further they descended.
+They crossed the bottom, mounted a cliff on the opposite side, came
+scrambling down from this and plunged into the bed of the stream, where
+their voices were lost to hearing.
+
+We rode around to a spur of the hill that dipped into the brush and
+overhung the canyon. From this we heard occasional barks away down at
+least a mile below us. It was a difficult situation. Nothing but a
+bluejay could possibly get down to the creek below. I never saw such a
+jungle! So we waited for the indications that the lion was treed, but
+all became silent.
+
+Evening approached, we ate our supper and then sat on the hill above,
+sounding our horns. Their vibrant echoes rang from mountain to mountain
+and returned to us clear and sweet.
+
+Way down below us, where a purple haze hung over the deep ravine, we
+faintly heard the answering hounds. In their voices we caught the dog's
+response to his master and friend. It said, "We have him. Come! Come!"
+We blew the horns again. The elf-land notes returned again and again,
+and with them came the call of the faithful hound, "We are here. Come!
+Come!"
+
+Now, there was a pitiful plight. No sane man would venture down such a
+chasm, impenetrable with thorns, and night descending. So we built a
+beacon fire and waited for dawn. All during the long dark hours we
+heard the distant appeal of the hounds, and we slept little.
+
+At the first rays of dawn we took a hasty meal, fed our horses, and
+stripping ourselves of every unnecessary accoutrement, we prepared to
+descend the canyon. Our bows and quivers we left behind because it
+would have been impossible to drag them through the jungle. Ferguson
+carried only his Colt pistol; I took my hunting knife.
+
+Having surveyed the topography carefully, we attacked the problem at
+its most available angle and slid from view. We literally dived beneath
+the brush. For more than two hours we wormed our way down the face of
+the mountain, crawling like moles at the base of the overhanging
+thickets of poison oak, wild lilac, chamise, sage, manzanita, hazel and
+buckthorn. At last we reached the depth of the canyon and, finding a
+little water, we bathed our sweat-grimed faces and cooled off.
+
+No sound of the dogs was heard, but pressing forward we followed the
+boulder-strewn bottom of the creek for a mile or more, almost
+despairing of ever finding them, when suddenly we came upon a strange
+sight. There was the pack in a circle about a big reclining oak. They
+were voiceless and utterly exhausted, but sat watching a huge lion
+crouched on a great overhanging limb of the tree. The moment we
+appeared they raised a feeble, hoarse yelp of delight. The panther
+turned his head, saw us, sprang from the tree with a prodigious bound,
+landed on the side hill, tore down the canyon, and leaped over a
+precipice below.
+
+The dogs, heartened by our presence, with instant accord charged after
+the lion. When they came to the precipitous drop in the bed of the
+stream, they whined a second, ran back and forth, then mounted the
+lateral wall, circled sidewise and, by a detour, gained the ground
+below. We ran and looked over. The drop was at least thirty feet. The
+cat had taken it without hesitation, but we were absolutely stalled.
+Even if we had cared to take the risk of the descent, we saw so many
+similar drops beyond that the situation was hopeless. The dogs having
+lost their voices, we were at a great disadvantage. So we returned to
+the tree to rest and meditate.
+
+There we saw the evidence of the long vigil of the night. All about its
+base were little nests, where the tired dogs had bedded down and kept
+their weary watch. Their incessant barking had served to keep the
+cougar treed, but it cost them a temporary loss of voice. Poor devils,
+they had our admiration and sympathy.
+
+At noon, hearing nothing from the hounds, we decided to return to camp.
+If coming down was hard, going up was herculean. We crawled on hands
+and knees, dragged ourselves by projecting roots, panted, rested, and
+worked again. After a three-hours' struggle we came out upon a rough
+ledge of granite, a mile below the spot at which we aimed, but near
+enough to the top to permit us, after a little more brush fighting, to
+gain our camp and lie down, too fatigued to eat.
+
+For another day we remained at this place, hoping that the dogs would
+return, but in vain. At last we decided to pack up and go around a
+ten-mile detour and work up the outlet of the canyon. We left a mess of
+food in several piles for the dogs should they return, and knew they
+could follow our horses' tracks if they came to camp.
+
+But our detour was futile. We lost all signs of our pack and returned
+to our headquarters to await results.
+
+It was on this homeward journey that we saw the lion of Pico Blanco,
+and had to let him slip.
+
+Ten days later, two weak, emaciated hounds came into camp, an old
+veteran and a young dog that trailed after him as if tied with a rope.
+He had followed him to save his life, and for days after he could not
+be separated without whining with fear.
+
+We fed them carefully and nursed them back to health. But these were
+all of the five to appear. Old Belle, the greatest fighter of them all,
+was gone. She must have met her death at the claws of the cougar, for
+nothing else could keep her. This ended that particular lion hunt.
+
+In our travels over California in search for cougars, we have picked up
+more tales than trails of the big cats.
+
+Just before one of my visits to Gorda, on the Monterey Coast, a panther
+visited the Mansfield ranch in broad daylight. Jasper being up on the
+mountainside after deer, his wife, left at home with the two little
+children, noticed a very large lion out in the pasture back of the
+house. It wandered among the cattle in a most unconcerned manner and
+did not even cause a stir. While it did not approach any of the cows
+very closely, they seemed to be not in the least alarmed. For half an
+hour or more it stayed in the neighborhood of the house, where Mrs.
+Mansfield locked herself in and waited for her husband's return. It was
+not until evening, and too late to track the beast, that Jasper came
+home. So no capture was made.
+
+Some time before this, one of the hired hands on the ranch was going to
+his cabin in the dusk; and swinging his hand idly to catch the tops of
+tall grass by the side of the path, he suddenly touched something warm
+and soft. Instantly he grasped a handful of the substance. At the same
+moment some sort of an animal bounded off in the dark. Holding fast to
+the material in his hand, he ran back to the farmhouse and found his
+fist full of lion hair. To say that he was startled, puts it very
+mildly. Apparently one of these beasts had been crouched on a log by
+the side of his path, waiting for something to turn up. The hired man
+took a lantern home with him after that.
+
+At another ranch on the Big Sur River, one of the little boys called to
+his mother that there was a funny sort of a "big dog" out in the
+pasture. His mother paid no attention to it, but a diminutive pet black
+and tan started an assault on the animal in question. The lion and the
+dog disappeared in the brush. Presently the canine barking ceased and
+the small boy wondered what had become of his valiant companion. In a
+few minutes he heard a plaintive whine up in a near-by tree, and
+running to its base he found that the panther had seized his pet by the
+nape of the neck and climbed a tall fir with him. The boy ran for his
+father, working in the fields, who, bringing his rifle, dispatched the
+panther. As it fell from the tree, the little dog clung to the upper
+limbs, and stayed at the top. Nothing they could do would coax him
+down. The fir was one difficult to climb, so to save time the man took
+an ax and felled the tree, which, falling gently against another,
+precipitated the canine hero to the ground without harm. Later I had
+the pleasure of shaking his paw and congratulating him on his bravery.
+
+After many futile attempts, at last our opportunity to get a _Felis
+Concolor_ arrived. We received word from a certain ranger station in
+Tuolumne County that a mountain lion was killing sheep and deer in the
+immediate vicinity, and having the promise of a well trained pack,
+Arthur Young and I gathered our archery tackle and started from San
+Francisco at night in an automobile. We traveled until the small hours
+of the morning, then lay down on the side of the road to take a short
+sleep; and rising at the first gray of dawn, sped on our way.
+
+We reached the Sierras by sun-up and began to climb. At noon we met our
+guide above Italian Bar, and prepared for an evening hunt. This,
+however, was as unsatisfactory as evening hunts usually are.
+
+A morning expedition the next day only brought out the fact that our
+lion had left the country. News of his activities twelve miles further
+up the mountains having been obtained, we gathered our bows, arrows,
+and dogs and departed for this region. Here we found a bloody record of
+his work. More than two hundred goats had been killed by the big cat in
+the past year. In fact, the rancher thought that several panthers were
+at work. Goats were taken from beneath the shepherd's nose, and as he
+turned in one direction, another goat would be killed behind him. It
+seemed impossible to apprehend the villain; their dogs were useless.
+
+Equipped for rough camping, we soon planned our morning excursion and
+bedded down for rest.
+
+At 3 o'clock we waked, ate a meager breakfast, and hit the trail up the
+mountain. We knew the general range of our cougar. It is necessary in
+all his tracking to get in the field while the dew is on the ground and
+before the sun dissipates it, also before the goats obliterate the
+tracks.
+
+Arrived at the crest of the ridge, we struck a well-defined goat trail,
+and soon the fresh tracks of a lion were discovered. Our dogs took up
+the scent at once and we began to travel at a rapid pace.
+
+Here again, one must have a good pair of legs. If automobiles,
+elevators, and general laziness have not ruined your powers of
+locomotion, you may follow the dogs; otherwise, you had best stay at
+home.
+
+At first we walk, then we trot, and when with a leap the hounds start
+in full cry, we race. Regardless of five thousand feet of altitude,
+regardless of brush, rocks, and dizzy cliffs, we follow at a breakneck
+pace. I don't know where our breath comes from in these trials. We just
+have to run; in fact, we have planned to run on our hands when our legs
+play out. With pounding hearts we surge ahead. "Keep the dogs within
+hearing!" "It can't last long!" But this time we come to a sudden halt
+on a rocky slide. We've lost the scent. The dogs circle and backtrack
+and work with feverish haste. The sun has risen, and up the mountain
+side comes a band of goats led by a single shepherd dog--no man in
+sight. We shout to the dog to steer his rabble away, but on they come,
+and obliterate our trail with a thousand hoofprints and a cloud of
+dust.
+
+The sun then comes out, and our day is done. No felis this time.
+
+So we scout the country for information to be used later, and return to
+camp to drown our sorrow in food.
+
+This was my first knowledge that a dog could be placed in charge of a
+flock of sheep or goats. It seems that these little sheep dogs, not
+even collies, but some shaggy little plebeians, are given full charge
+of the band. They lead them out to pasture, guard them, and keep them
+together during the day and bring them home at night. They will, when
+properly instructed, take a band of goats out for a week on a long
+route, and bring them all safely home again. At least, they used to do
+this until the lion appeared on the scene.
+
+That evening we asked the rancher to lock his goats in the corral till
+noon.
+
+Next morning we rose again in time to see the morning star glitter with
+undimmed glory. Up the trail we mounted, the dogs eager for the chase.
+An old owl in a hollow tree asked us again and again who we were; all
+else was silent in the woods.
+
+Saving our strength, we arrived quietly on the upper ridges and waited
+for the dawn. Way down below us in the canyon we could smell the faint
+incense of our camp-fire. The morning breeze was just beginning to
+breathe in the trees. The birds awoke with little whispered
+confidences, small twitterings and chirps. A faint lavender tint melted
+the stars in the eastern sky. Shadows crept beneath the trees, and we
+knew it was time to start.
+
+Just as the light defined the margins of the trail, we picked up in the
+grayness the track of a lion. Strange to say, the dogs had not smelled
+it, but when we pointed to the footprint in the dust, which was
+apparently none too fresh, they took up the work of tracking. It is
+astonishing to see how a dog can tell which way a track leads. If in
+doubt, he runs quickly back and forth on the scent, and thus gauges the
+way the animal has progressed. A mediocre dog cannot do this, but we
+had dogs with college educations.
+
+Traveling carefully and at a moderate pace, we came to an open knoll in
+the forest. Here in the ferns our pack circled about us as if the cat
+had been doing a circus stunt, and they seemed confused. Later on we
+found that our feline friend had been experimenting with a porcupine
+and learned another lesson in natural history.
+
+Suddenly the leader sniffed at a fallen tree where, doubtless, the cat
+had perched, then with a ringing bay, the hound clamped his tail close
+to his rump and left in a streak of yellow light. The rest of the pack
+leaped into full cry.
+
+We were off on a hot track. Oh, for the wings of a bird! Trained as
+Young and I were to desperate running, this game taxed us to the
+utmost. First we climbed the knoll, deep in ferns and mountain misery,
+then we dashed over the crest, tore through manzanita brush, thickets
+of young cedar and buckthorn, over ledges of lava rock, down deep
+declivities, among giant oaks, cedars, and pines. As we ran we grasped
+our ready strung bows in one hand and the flapping quivers in the
+other.
+
+You would not think that at this time we could take note of the
+fragrant shrubs and pine needles beneath our feet, but I smelled them
+as we passed in flight, and they revived me to renewed energy. On we
+rushed, only to lose the sound of the dogs. Then we listened and caught
+it down the hill below us. Again we hurdled barriers of brush, took
+long sliding leaps down the treacherous shale and ran breathless to the
+shade of a great oak.
+
+There above our heads was the lion. Oh, the beauty of that beast!
+
+Heaving and giddy with exertion, we saw a wonderful sight, a great
+tawny, buff-colored body crouched on a limb, grace and power in every
+outline. A huge, soft cylindrical tail swung slowly back and forth.
+
+Luminous eyes gazed at us in utmost calm, a cold calculating calm. He
+watched and waited our next move, waited with his great muscles tense
+for action.
+
+We retreated, not only to get out of his reach, but to gain a better
+shooting position. As we did this, he gave a lithe leap to a higher
+limb and shielded himself as best he could behind the boughs of the
+tree.
+
+From our position, his chest and throat were visible through a
+triangular space in the branches, not more than a foot across. We must
+shoot through this. His attitude was so huddled that his head hung over
+his shoulder.
+
+Young and I caught our breath, drew our arrows from their quivers,
+nocked them, and set ourselves in the archer's "stable stand." We drew
+together and, at a mutual thought, shot together. Because of our
+unsteady condition the arrows flew a trifle wild. Mine buried itself in
+the lion's shoulder. Young's hit him in the nose.
+
+He reared and struck at this latter shaft, then, not dislodging it,
+began swaying back and forth while with both front paws he fought the
+arrow.
+
+While he thrashed about thus in the tree top, we nocked two more arrows
+and shot. We both missed the brute. Young's flew off into the next
+state, and if you ever go up into Tuolumne County, you will find mine
+buried deep in the heart of an oak.
+
+Just as we nocked a third arrow, he freed himself from the offending
+shaft in his muzzle, raised his fore-paws upon a limb and prepared to
+leap. In that movement he bared the white hair of his throat and chest,
+and like a flash, two keen arrows were driven through his heart area.
+
+
+[Illustration: ARTHUR YOUNG AND HIS COUGAR]
+
+
+[Illustration: OUR FIRST MOUNTAIN LION]
+
+
+[Illustration: WE PACK THE PANTHER TO CAMP]
+
+As they struck and disappeared from sight, he leaped. Like a flying
+squirrel, he soared over our heads. Full seventy-five feet he cleared
+in one mighty outward, downward bound. I saw his body glint across the
+rising sun, swoop in a wonderful curve and land in a sheltering bush.
+
+The dogs threw themselves upon him. There was a medley of sounds, a
+fierce, but brief fight, and all was over. We grabbed him by the tail
+and dragged him forth--dead. The ringleader of our pack, trembling with
+excitement, effort, and fighting frenzy, drove all the other dogs away
+and took possession of the body. No one but a man, his master, might
+touch it.
+
+Our lion was a young male, six feet eight inches from tip to tip, and
+weighing a little over one hundred and twenty pounds. Later, as we
+skinned him, we found his paws full of porcupine quills, speaking
+loudly of his recent experience. The stomach was empty; the chest was
+full of blood from our arrows.
+
+He was as easy to kill as a deer. We packed him back to camp and added
+his photograph to our rogues' gallery.
+
+There was no further goat killing on that Sierra ranch.
+
+This was our first lion, and for me so far, my only one. Arthur Young,
+however, has been fortunate enough to land two cougars by himself on
+another hunting trip.
+
+Captain C. H. Styles, a recent addition to the ranks of field archers,
+while on an expedition to cut yew staves in Humboldt County,
+California, started a mountain lion, ran him to bay with hounds, and
+killed him with one arrow in the chest. We shall undoubtedly hear more
+of the captain later on.
+
+But so long as we can draw a bowstring and our legs hold out, and there
+is an intelligent dog to be had, it will not be the last lion on our
+list. Wherever there are deer, there will be found panthers, and it is
+our business to help reduce their number in the game fields to maintain
+the balance of power.
+
+
+
+
+XIV
+
+
+GRIZZLY BEAR
+
+
+The very idea of shooting grizzly bears with the bow and arrow strikes
+most people as so absurd that they laugh at the mention of it. The
+mental picture of the puny little archery implements of their childhood
+opposed to that of the largest and most fearsome beast of the Western
+world, produces merriment and incredulity.
+
+Because it seemed so impossible, I presume, this added to our desire to
+accomplish it.
+
+Ever since we began hunting with the bow, we had talked of shooting
+grizzlies. We thought of an Alaskan trip as a remotely attainable
+adventure, and planned murderous arrows of various ingenious spring
+devices to increase their cutting qualities. We estimated the power of
+formidable bows necessary to pierce the hides of these monsters. In
+fact, it was the acme of our hunting desires.
+
+We read the biography of John Capen Adams and his adventures with the
+California grizzlies, and Roosevelt's admirable descriptions of these
+animals. They filled out our dreams with detail. And after killing
+black bears we needed only the opportunity to make our wish become an
+exploit.
+
+The opportunity to do this arrived unexpectedly, as many opportunities
+seem to, when the want and the preparedness coincide.
+
+The California Academy of Sciences has in its museum in Golden Gate
+Park, San Francisco, a collection of very fine animal habitat groups,
+among which are deer, antelope, mountain sheep, cougars, and brown
+bear. While an elk group was being installed, it happened that the
+taxidermist, Mr. Paul Fair, said to me that the next and final setting
+would be one of grizzly bears. In surprise, I asked him if it were not
+a fact that the California grizzly was extinct. He said this was true,
+but the silver-tip bear of Wyoming was a grizzly and its range extended
+westward to the Sierra Nevada Mountains; so it could properly be
+classified as a Pacific Coast variety. He cited Professor Merriam's
+monograph on the classification of grizzlies to prove his statements.
+He also informed me that permit might be obtained from Washington to
+secure these specimens in Yellowstone National Park.
+
+Immediately I perceived an opportunity and interviewed Dr. Barton
+Everman, curator of the museum, concerning the feasibility of offering
+our services in taking these bears at no expense to the academy.
+Incidentally, we proposed to shoot them with the bow and arrow, and
+thereby answer a moot question in anthropology. The proposition
+appealed to him, and he wrote to Washington for a permit to secure
+specimens in this National Park, stating that the bow and arrow would
+be used. I insisted upon this latter stipulation, so that there should
+be no misunderstanding if, in the future, any objection was raised to
+this method of hunting.
+
+In a very short time permit was given to the academy, and we started
+our preparations for the expedition. This was late in the fall of 1919,
+and bear were at their best in the spring, just after hibernation; so
+we had ample time.
+
+It was planned that Mr. Compton, Mr. Young, and I should be the
+hunters, and such other assistance would be obtained as seemed
+necessary. We began reviewing our experience and formulating the
+principles of the campaign.
+
+Our weapons we now considered adequate in the light of our contact with
+black bears. We had found that our bows were as strong as we could
+handle, and ample to drive a good arrow through a horse, a fact which
+we had demonstrated upon the carcasses of recently dead animals.
+
+But we decided to add to the length of our arrowheads, and use tempered
+instead of soft steel as heretofore. We took particular pains to have
+them perfect in every detail.
+
+Then we undertook the study of the anatomy of bears and the location
+and size of their vital organs. In the work of William Wright on the
+grizzly, we found valuable data concerning the habits and nature of
+these animals.
+
+In spite of the reputation of this bear for ferocity and tenacity of
+life, we felt that, after all, he was only made of flesh and blood, and
+our arrows were capable of solving the problem.
+
+We also began preparing ourselves for the contest. Although habitually
+in good physical condition, we undertook special training for the big
+event. By running, the use of dumbbells and other gymnastic practices,
+we strengthened our muscles and increased our endurance. Our field
+shooting was also directed toward rapid delivery and the quick judgment
+of distances on level, uphill, and falling ground. In fact, we planned
+to leave no factor for success untried.
+
+My brother, G. D. Pope, of Detroit, being a hunter of big game with the
+gun, was invited to join the party, and his advice was asked concerning
+a reliable guide. He gladly consented to come with us and share the
+expenses. At the same time he suggested Ned Frost, of Cody, Wyoming, as
+the most experienced hunter of grizzly bears in America.
+
+About this time one of my professional friends visited the Smithsonian
+Institute at Washington, where he met a member of the staff, who
+inquired if he knew Doctor Pope, of San Francisco, a man that was
+contemplating shooting grizzlies with the bow and arrow. The doctor
+replied that he did, whereat the sage laughed and said that the feat
+was impossible, most dangerous and foolhardy; it could not be done. We
+fully appreciated the danger involved--therein lay some of the zest.
+But we also knew that even should we succeed in killing them in
+Yellowstone Park, the glory would be sullied by the popular belief that
+all park bears are hotel pets, live upon garbage, and that it was a
+cruel shame to torment them with arrows.
+
+So in my early correspondence with Frost, I assured him that we did not
+want to shoot any tame bears and that we would not consider the trip at
+all if this were necessary. He assured us that this was not necessary,
+and reminded us that Yellowstone Park was fifty miles wide by sixty
+miles long, and that some of the highest portions of the Rocky
+Mountains lay in it. The animals in this preserve, he said, were far
+from tame and the bears were divided into two distinct groups, one
+mostly composed of black and brown with a few inferior specimens of
+grizzlies that frequent the dumps back of the camps and hotels, and
+another group of bears that never came near civilization, but lived
+entirely up in the rugged mountains and were as dangerous and wary as
+those in Alaska or any other wild country. These bear wander outside
+the park and furnish hunting material throughout the neighboring State.
+He promised to put us in communication with grizzlies that were as
+unspoiled and unafraid as those first seen by Lewis and Clarke in their
+early explorations.
+
+After explaining the purposes of our trip and the use of the bow, Ned
+Frost agreed that it was a real sporting proposition and took up the
+plan with enthusiasm. I sent him a sample arrow we used in hunting, and
+his letter in reply I take the liberty of printing. It is typical of
+the frontier spirit and comes, not only from the foremost grizzly
+hunter of all times, but discloses the man's bigness of heart:
+
+    "My dear Doctor:
+
+    "Your letter of the 18th was received a day or so ago, and last
+    night I received 'Good Medicine' [a hunting arrow] on the evening
+    train, and I feel better away down deep about this hunt after a
+    good examination of this little Grizzly Tickler than I have at any
+    time before. I have, by mistake, let it simmer out in a quiet way
+    that I was going to see what a grizzly would really do if he had a
+    few sticks stuck in his innerds, and my friends have been giving
+    the Mrs. and me a regular line of farewell parties. Really, I think
+    it has been a splendid paying thing to do; pork chops are high, you
+    know, and I really feel I am off to the good about nine dollars and
+    six bits worth of bacon and flour right now on this deal. Maybe
+    I'll be in debt to you before green-grass if I don't look out.
+
+    "Well, anyway, here is hoping we will all live through it and have
+    a dandy time. Don't worry about coming to blows with the bear; I
+    have noticed from long experience that it is not the times that you
+    think a bear is going to give you trouble that it happens, but
+    always when least expected. I have trailed wounded grizzlies time
+    and time again, and was more or less worried all the while, but
+    never had one turn on me yet. Then, too, I have had about three
+    experiences with them that made my hair stand straight up, and when
+    it finally settled, it had more FROST in it than ever before; and
+    let me add right here, that one of the worst places I ever got into
+    was when I had sixteen of the best bear dogs that were ever gotten
+    together I believe, after an old she-grizzly, and I was like you,
+    thought they would hold the bear's attention. BUT, don't let any
+    notion like this get you into trouble. Now, I am not running down
+    dogs as a means of getting bear; I love them and would now have a
+    good pack if it was possible to run them in the game fields of this
+    State, but you don't want to think that they can handle a grizzly
+    like they do a black bear. In fact, I would place no value on them
+    whatsoever as a safeguard in case a grizzly got on the pack, and I
+    am speaking from experience, mind you. No, a good little shepherd
+    would do more than a dozen regular bear dogs, but there is only
+    about one little shepherd like I speak of in a lifetime.
+
+    "If you can use the bow from horseback, here is a safe proposition,
+    and I believe a practical one, too. But I don't feel that there is
+    really so much danger in the game after all, as it is only once in
+    a great while that any bear will go up against the human animal,
+    and then is most likely to be when you are not expecting it at all.
+    Don't worry about it. What I am thinking about most is to get the
+    opportunity to get the first arrow into some good big worthy old
+    boy that will be a credit to the expedition.
+
+    "There are lots of grizzlies in the park all right, and some of
+    them are not very wild, but if you get out away from the hotels a
+    few miles, they are not going to come up and present their
+    broadsides to you at thirty yards. So, as I say, I am thinking
+    mostly about the chances of getting the opportunities. I don't
+    know, of course, just how close you can place your arrows at thirty
+    yards, and it is getting the first hole into them that I am most
+    interested in now. I feel that we ought to get some good chances,
+    as I have seen so many bear in the park; but, of course, have never
+    hunted them and don't know just how keen they will be when it comes
+    right down to getting their hides. There are some scattered all
+    over the park that will rob a camp at night, and some of them will
+    even put up a fight for it, but most of them will beat it as soon
+    as one gets after them.
+
+    "It would be impossible, I believe, to keep dogs still while
+    watching a bait, as they would get the scent of any approaching
+    bear, and then you would not be able to keep them quiet, and they
+    would most likely scare the bear out of the country. I can rustle a
+    few dogs to take along if you want them, and pretty good dogs, too;
+    but I am not strong for them myself only in this way, to put them
+    on the trail of a bear and take a good horse apiece, so that we
+    could get up to the chase and have a chance to land on him. This
+    might be a good thing to try if all others failed.
+
+    "I know how you feel about killing clean with the bow and not
+    having any shooting, and I can assure you that I would let 'em get
+    just as close as you want them, and not feel any concern about
+    their getting the best of anybody, and you would have a chance to
+    use the bow well in this case; but I am more prone to think they
+    will beat it off with a lot of your perfectly good arrows than
+    anything else.
+
+    "Yours truly,
+
+    "NED FROST."
+
+
+ It was apparent from the first that dogs were of little use in taking
+grizzly. It would be necessary to shoot from blinds set conveniently
+near bait. Frost assured us that bears of this variety, when just out
+of hibernation and lean, would run out of the country if chased by a
+pack of dogs, and incidentally kill all that they could catch. In the
+fall of the year, when the bears are fat, they refuse to run, but wade
+through the pack, which is unable to keep him from attacking the
+hunter.
+
+As an example of this, he related an instance where he started a
+grizzly with eight or ten Russian bear hounds, and chased the beast
+about thirty miles. As he followed on horseback, he found one after the
+other of his dogs torn to pieces, disemboweled, and dismembered. At
+last, he came upon the bear at bay in deep snow, against a high cliff.
+Only two of his hounds were left, and one of these had a broken leg.
+Mad with vengeance, Frost shot the grizzly. It charged him at forty
+yards. In quick succession he fired five bullets in the oncoming bear,
+seemingly with no effect. Up to his waist in the snow, he was unable to
+avoid its rush. It came on and fell dead on his chest, with the
+faithful hound hanging to it in a desperate effort to save his master.
+
+This is one of the three or four maulings that Ned has received in his
+hunting experiences, which, he says, "have added frost to my golden
+locks." The dog became a cherished pet in the family for many years.
+
+Frost killed his first bear when fourteen years of age, and has added
+nearly five hundred to this number since that time.
+
+It is characteristic of the grizzly that he will charge upon the
+slightest provocation, and that nothing will turn him aside from his
+purpose. Later we found this particularly true where the female with
+cubs is concerned.
+
+Instances of this are too well known to recount, but one coming under
+our own experience was related to me by Tom Murphy, the bear hunter of
+California.
+
+In early days in Humboldt County, there lived an old settler named Pete
+Bluford, who was a squaw man. He shot a female grizzly with cubs within
+a quarter of a mile of what are now the town limits of Blocksburg. The
+beast charged and struck him to the ground. At the same time she ripped
+open the man's abdomen. Bluford dropped under a fallen tree, where the
+bear repeatedly assaulted him, tearing at his body. By rolling back and
+forth as the grizzly leaped over the log to reach him from the other
+side, he escaped further injury. Worried by the hunter's dog, she
+finally ceased her efforts and wandered off. The man was able to reach
+home in spite of a large open wound in his abdomen, with protruding
+intestines. This was roughly sewed together by his friend, Beany
+Powell. He recovered from the experience and lived many years with the
+Indians of that locality. As an example of Western humor, it is related
+that Beany Powell, when sewing up the wound with twine and a sack
+needle, found a large lump of fat protruding from the incision, of
+which he was unable to dispose; so he cut it off, tried out the grease
+in the frying-pan and used it to grease his boots.
+
+Old Bluford became a character in the country. He was, in fact, what is
+colloquially known as "an old poison oaker." This is an individual who
+sinks so low in the scale of civilization that he lives out in the
+backwoods or poison oak brush and becomes animal in type. His hair grew
+to his shoulders, his beard was unkempt, his finger nails were as long
+as claws and filthy with dirt. Rags of unknown antiquity partially
+covered his limbs, vermin infested his body and he stayed with the most
+degraded remnants of the Indians.
+
+One cold winter they found him dead in his dilapidated cabin. He lay on
+the dirt floor, his ragged coat over his face, his hands beneath his
+head, and two house cats lay frozen, one beneath each arm. These old
+pioneers were strange people and died strange deaths.
+
+In our plans to capture grizzlies we took into consideration the
+proclivity of this beast to attack. We knew his speed was tremendous.
+He is able to catch a horse or a dog on the run. Therefore, it is
+useless for a man to try to run away from him. There is no such thing
+as being able to climb a tree if the animal is at close quarters. Adams
+has shown that it is a mistake to attempt it. One only stretches
+himself out inviting evisceration in the effort.
+
+We decided if cornered either to dodge or to lie flat and feign death.
+So we practiced dodging, our running being more for the purpose of
+gaining endurance and to follow the bear if necessary.
+
+Ishi, the Yana Indian, said that grizzlies were to be overcome with
+arrows and if they charged, they were to be met with the spear and
+fire. So we constructed spears having well-tempered blades more than a
+foot in length set upon heavy iron tubing and riveted to strong ash
+handles six feet in length. Back of the blade we fashioned quick
+lighting torches of cotton waste saturated with turpentine. These could
+be ignited by jerking a lanyard fastened to a spring faced with
+sandpaper. The spring rested on the ends of several matches. It was an
+ingenious and reliable device.
+
+The Esquimaux used a long spear in hunting the polar bear. It was ten
+or twelve feet in length. After being shot with an arrow, if the bear
+charged, they rested the butt of the spear on the ground, lowered the
+point and let the bear impale himself on it.
+
+When the time came to use our weapons, Ned Frost dissuaded us from the
+attempt. He said that he once owned a pet grizzly and kept it fast with
+a long chain in the back yard. This bear was so quick that it could lie
+in its kennel, apparently asleep, and if a chicken passed within proper
+distance, with incredible quickness she reached out a paw and seized
+the chicken without the slightest semblance of effort. And when at
+play, the boys tried to stick the bear with a pitchfork, she would
+parry the thrusts and protect herself like a boxer. It was impossible
+to touch her.
+
+The fire, Frost thought, might serve at night, but in the daylight it
+would lose its effect. So he insisted that he would carry a gun to be
+used in case of attack. On our part, we stipulated that he was to
+resort to it only to prevent disaster and protested that such an
+exigency must be looked upon by us as a complete failure of our plans.
+We knew we could not stop the mad rush of a bear with our arrows, but
+we hoped to kill at least one by this means and compromise on the rest
+if necessary.
+
+Indians, besides employing the spear, poisoned arrows, and fire, also
+used protected positions, or shot from horseback. We scorned to shoot
+from a tree and were told that few horses could be ridden close enough,
+or fast enough, to get within bowshot of a grizzly.
+
+Inquiry among those qualified to know, led to the estimate of the
+number of all bears in the Park to be between five hundred and one
+thousand. Considering that there are some three thousand square miles
+of land, that there were nearly sixty thousand elk, besides hundreds of
+bison, antelope, mountain sheep, and similar animals, this does not
+seem improbable. I am aware that recent statements are to the effect
+that there were only forty grizzlies there. This is palpably an
+underestimate, and probably takes into account only those that frequent
+the dumps. Frost believes that there are several hundred grizzlies in
+the Park, many of which range out in the adjacent country. So we felt
+no fear of decimating their ranks, and had every hope of seeing many.
+In fact, their number has so increased in recent years that they have
+become a menace and require killing off.
+
+During the past five years four persons have either been mauled or
+killed by grizzlies in Yellowstone. One of these was a teamster by the
+name of Jack Walsh. He was sleeping under his wagon at Cold Springs
+when a large bear seized him by the arm, dragged him forth and ripped
+open his abdomen. Walsh died of blood poison and peritonitis a few days
+later. Frost himself was attacked. He was conducting a party of
+tourists through the preserve and had just been explaining to them
+around the camp-fire that there was no danger of bears. He slept in the
+tent with a horse wrangler by the name of Phonograph Jones. In the
+middle of the night a huge grizzly entered his tent and stepped on the
+head of Jones, peeling the skin off his face by the rough pressure of
+his paw. The man waked with a yell, whereupon the bear clawed out his
+lower ribs. The cry roused Frost, who having no firearms, hurled his
+pillow at the bear.
+
+With a roar, the grizzly leaped upon Ned, who dived into his sleeping
+bag. The animal grasped him by the thighs, and dragged him from the
+tent out into the forest, sleeping bag and all. As he carried off his
+victim, he shook him from side to side as a dog shakes a rat. Frost
+felt the great teeth settle down on his thigh bones and expected
+momentarily to have them crushed in the powerful jaws. In a thicket of
+jack pines over a hundred yards from camp, the bear shook him so
+violently that the muscles of the man's thighs tore out and he was
+hurled free from the bag. He landed half-naked in the undergrowth
+several yards away.
+
+While the frenzied bear still worried the bedding, Frost dragged
+himself to a near-by pine and pulled himself up in its branches by the
+strength of his arms.
+
+The camp was in an uproar; a huge fire was kindled; tin pans were
+beaten; one of the helpers mounted a horse and by circling around the
+bear, succeeded in driving him away.
+
+After first aid measures were administered, Frost was successfully
+nursed back to health and usefulness by his wife. But since that time
+he has an inveterate hatred of grizzlies, hunting them with grim
+persistency.
+
+It is said that nearly forty obnoxious grizzlies were shot by the Park
+rangers after this episode and Frost was given a permit to carry a
+weapon. We found later that he always went to sleep with a Colt
+automatic pistol strapped to his wrist.
+
+We planned to enter the Park in two parties. One, comprised of Frost,
+the cook, horse wrangler, my brother, and his friend, Judge Henry
+Hulbert, of Detroit, was to proceed from Cody and come with a pack
+train across Sylvan Pass. Our party consisted of Arthur Young and
+myself; Mr. Compton was unexpectedly prevented from joining us by
+sickness in his family. We were to journey by rail to Ashton. This was
+the nearest point to Yellowstone Station on the boundary of the
+reservation that could be reached by railroad in winter.
+
+We arrived at this point near the last of May 1920. The roads beyond
+were blocked with snow, but by good fortune, we were taken in by one of
+the first work trains entering the region through the personal interest
+and courtesy of the superintendent of the Pocatello division.
+
+We had shipped ahead of us a quantity of provisions and came outfitted
+only with sleeping bags, extra clothing, and our archery equipment.
+This latter consisted of two bows apiece and a carrying case containing
+one hundred and forty-four broad-heads, the finest assembly of bows and
+arrows since the battle of Crecy.
+
+Young had one newly made bow weighing eighty-five pounds and his
+well-tried companion of many hunts, Old Grizzly, weighing seventy-five
+pounds.
+
+He later found the heavier weapon too strong for him in the cold
+weather of the mountains, where a man's muscles stiffen and lose their
+power, while his bow grows stronger.
+
+My own bows were seventy-five pounds apiece--"Old Horrible," my
+favorite, a hard hitter and sweet to shoot, and "Bear Slayer," the
+fine-grained, crooked-limbed stave with which I helped to kill our
+first bear. Our arrows were the usual three-eighths birch shafts,
+carefully selected, straight and true. Their heads were tempered steel,
+as sharp as daggers. We had, of course, a few blunts and eagle arrows
+in the lot.
+
+In the Park we found snow deep on the ground and the roads but recently
+cleared with snow plows and caterpillar tractors. We traveled by auto
+to Mammoth Hot Springs and paid our respects to Superintendent
+Albright, and ultimately settled in a vacant ranger's cabin near the
+Canyon. Here we awaited the coming of the second party.
+
+Our entrance into the Park was well known to the rangers, who were
+instructed to give us all the assistance possible. This cabin soon
+became a rendezvous for them and our evenings were spent very
+pleasantly with stories and fireside music.
+
+After several days, word was sent by telephone that Frost and his
+caravan were unable to cross Sylvan Pass because of fifty feet of snow
+in the defile, and that he had returned to Cody where he would take an
+auto truck and come around to the northern entrance to the Park,
+through Gardner, Montana.
+
+At the expiration of three days he drove up to our cabin in a flurry of
+snow. This was about the last day in May.
+
+Frost himself is one of the finest of Western types; born and raised in
+the sage brush country, a hunter of big game ever since he was large
+enough to hold a gun. He was in the prime of life, a man of infinite
+resource, courage, and fortitude. We admired him immensely.
+
+With him he had a full camp outfit, selected after years of experience,
+and suited to any kind of weather.
+
+The party consisted of Art Cunningham, the cook; G.D. Pope, and Judge
+Henry Hulbert. Art came equipped with a vast amount of camp craft and
+cookery wisdom. My brother came to see the fun, the Judge to take
+pictures and add dignity to the occasion. All were seasoned woodsmen
+and hunters.
+
+We moved to more commodious quarters, a log cabin in the vicinity, made
+ourselves comfortable, and let the wind-driven snow pile deep drifts
+about our warm shelter while we planned a campaign against the
+grizzlies.
+
+So far, we had met few bears, and these were of the tourist variety.
+They had stolen bacon from the elevated meat safe, and one we found in
+the woods sitting on his haunches calmly eating the contents of a box
+of soda crackers. These were the hotel pets and were nothing more than
+of passing interest to us.
+
+Contrary to the usual condition, no grizzlies were to be seen. The only
+animals in evidence were a few half-starved elk that had wintered in
+the Park, marmots, and the Canadian jay birds.
+
+We began our hunts on foot, exploring Hayden Valley, the Sour Creek
+region, Mt. Washburn, and the headwaters of Cascade Creek.
+
+The ground was very wet in places and heavy with snow in the woods. It
+was necessary, therefore, to wear rubber pacs, a type of shoe well
+suited to this sort of travel.
+
+Our party divided into two groups, usually my brother and the Judge
+exploring in one direction while Young and I kept close at the heels of
+Frost. We climbed all the high ridges and swept the country with our
+binocular glasses. Prom eight to fourteen hours a day we walked and
+combed the country for bear signs.
+
+Our original plan was to bring in several decrepit old horses with the
+pack train and sacrifice them for bait. But because of the failure of
+this part of our program, we were forced to find dead elk for this
+purpose. We came across a number of old carcasses, but no signs that
+bear had visited them recently. Our first encounter with grizzly came
+on the fourth day. We were scouting over the country near Sulphur
+Mountain, when Frost saw a grizzly a mile off, feeding in a little
+valley. The snow had melted here and he was calmly digging roots in the
+soft ground. We signalled to our party and all drew together as we
+advanced on our first bear, keeping out of sight as we did so.
+
+We planned to go rapidly down a little cut in the hills and intercept
+him as he came around the turn. Progressing at a rapid pace, Indian
+file, we five hunters went down the draw, when suddenly our bear, who
+had taken an unexpected cut-off, came walking up the ravine. At a sign
+from Ned, we dropped to our knees and awaited developments. The bear
+had not seen us and the faint breeze blew from him to us. He was about
+two hundred yards off. We were all in a direct line, Frost ahead, I
+next, Young behind me, and the others in the rear. Our bows were braced
+and arrows nocked.
+
+Slowly the bear came feeding toward us. He dug the roots of white
+violets, he sniffed, he meandered back and forth, wholly unconscious of
+our presence. We hardly breathed. He was not a good specimen, rather a
+scrawny, long-nosed, male adolescent, but a real grizzly and would do
+as a starter.
+
+At last he came within fifty yards, stopped, pawed a patch of snow, and
+still we did not shoot. We could not without changing our position
+because we were all in one line. So we waited for his next move, hoping
+that he would advance laterally and possibly give us a broadside
+exposure.
+
+But he came onward, directly for us, and at thirty yards stopped to
+root in the ground again. I thought, "Now we must shoot or he will walk
+over us!" Just then he lifted his head and seemed to take an eyeful of
+Young's blue shirt. For one second he half reared and stared. I drew my
+bow and as the arrow left the string, he bounded up the hill. The
+flying shaft just grazed his shoulder, parting the fur in its course.
+Quick as a bouncing rubber ball, he leaped over the ground and as
+Young's belated arrow whizzed past him, he disappeared over the hill
+crest.
+
+We rose with a deep breath and shouted with laughter. Ned said that if
+it had not been for that blue shirt, the bear would have bumped into
+us. Well, we were glad we missed him, because after all, he was not the
+one we were looking for. It is a hard thing to pick grizzlies to order.
+You can't go up and inspect them ahead of time.
+
+This fiasco was just an encouragement to us, and we continued to rise
+by candle light and hunt till dark. The weather turned warmer, and the
+snow began to melt.
+
+At the end of the first week we saw five grizzlies way off in the
+distance at the head of Hayden Valley. They were three or four miles
+from us and evening was approaching, so we postponed an attack on them.
+Next morning, bright and early, we were on the ground again, hoping to
+see them. Sure enough, there they were! Ned, Art and I were together;
+my brother and the Judge were off scouting on the other side of the
+ridge. It was about half past eight in the morning. The bears, four in
+number this time, were feeding in the grassy marshland, about three
+miles up the valley. Ned's motto has always been: "When you see 'em, go
+and get 'em."
+
+We decided to attack immediately. Down the river bank, through the
+draws, up into the timber we circled at a trot. It was hard going, but
+we were pressed for time. At last we came out on a wooded point a
+quarter of a mile above the bears, and rested. We knew they were about
+to finish their morning feeding and go up into the forest to lay up for
+the day. So we watched them in seclusion.
+
+We waxed our bowstrings and put the finishing touches on our
+arrow-heads with a file.
+
+Slowly the bears mounted the foothills, heading for a large patch of
+snow, where Frost thought they would lie down to cool before entering
+the woods. It seems that their winter coat makes them very susceptible
+to heat, and though the sun had come out pleasantly for us, it was too
+hot for them. There was an old female and three half-grown cubs in
+their third year, all looking big enough for any museum group.
+
+At last they settled down and began to nuzzle the snow. The time had
+come for action. We proposed to slip down the little ravine at the edge
+of the timber, cross the stream, ascend the hill on the opposite side,
+and come up on our quarry over the crest. We should thus be within
+shooting distance. The wind was right for this maneuver, so we started
+at once.
+
+Now as I write my muscles quiver, my heart thumps and I flush with a
+strange feeling, thinking of that moment. Like a soldier before a
+battle, we waded into an uncharted experience. What does a man think of
+as he is about to enter his first grizzly encounter? I remember well
+what passed through my head: "Can we get there without alarming the
+brutes?" "How close will they be?" "Can we hit them?" "What will happen
+then?"
+
+Ned Frost, Young and I were to sneak up on four healthy grizzlies in
+the open, and pit our nerve against their savage reaction. Ned had his
+rifle, but this was to be used only as a last resort, and that might
+easily fail at such short range.
+
+As we walked rapidly, stepping with utmost caution, I answered all the
+questions of my subconscious fears. "Hit them? Why, we will soak them
+in the gizzard; wreck them!" "Charge? Let them come on and may the best
+man win!" "Die? There never was a fairer, brighter, better day to die
+on." In fact, "Lead on!" I felt absolutely gay. A little profanity or a
+little intellectual detachment at these times is of material help in
+the process of auto-suggestion.
+
+As for Young, he was silent, and possibly was thinking of camp
+flapjacks.
+
+Half way up the hill, on the opposite side of which lay our grizzlies,
+we stopped, braced our bows, took three arrows apiece from our quivers,
+and proceeded in a more stealthy approach.
+
+Young and I arranged ourselves on each side of Frost, abreast with him.
+Near the top Ned took out a green silk handkerchief and floated it in
+the gentle breeze to see if the wind had changed. If it had, we might
+find the bears coming over the top to meet us. Everything was perfect,
+so far! Now, stooping low we crept to the very ridge itself, to a spot
+directly above which we believed the bears to be. Laying our hats on
+the grass and sticking our extra arrows in the ground before us, we
+rose up, bows half drawn, ready to shoot.
+
+There on the snow, not over twenty-five yards off, lay four grizzly
+bears, just like so many hearth rugs.
+
+Instantly, I selected the farthest bear for my mark and at a signal of
+the eye we drew our great bows to their uttermost and loosed two deadly
+arrows.
+
+We struck! There was a roar, they rose, but instead of charging us,
+they rushed together and began such a fight as few men have seen. My
+bear, pinioned with an arrow in the shoulder, threw himself on his
+mother, biting her with savage fury. She in turn bit him in the bloody
+shoulder and snapped my arrow off short. Then all the cubs attacked
+her. The growls and bellowing were terrific.
+
+Quickly I nocked another arrow. The beasts were milling around
+together, pawing, biting, mad with rage. I shot at my bear and missed
+him. I nocked again. The old she-bear reared on her haunches, stood
+high above the circling bunch, cuffing and roaring, the blood running
+from her mouth and nostrils in frothy streams. Young's arrow was deep
+in her chest. I drove a feathered shaft below her foreleg.
+
+The confusion and bellowing increased, and, as I drew a fourth arrow
+from my quiver, I glanced up just in time to see the old female's hair
+rise on the back of her neck. She steadied herself in her wild hurtling
+and looked directly at us with red glaring eyes. She saw us for the
+first time! Instinctively I knew she would charge, and she did.
+
+Quick as thought, she bounded toward us. Two great leaps and she was on
+us. A gun went off at my ear. The bear was literally knocked head over
+heels, and fell in backward somersaults down the steep snowbank. At
+some fifty yards she checked her course, gathered herself, and
+attempted to charge again, but her right foreleg failed her. She rose
+on her haunches in an effort to advance, when, like a flash, two arrows
+flew at her and disappeared through her heaving sides. She faltered,
+wilted, and as we drew to shoot again, she sprawled out on the ground,
+a convulsed, quivering mass of fur and muscle--she was dead.
+
+The half grown cubs had disappeared at the boom of the gun. We saw one
+making off at a gallop, three hundred yards away. The glittering
+snowbank before us was vacant.
+
+The air seemed strangely still; the silence was oppressive. Our nervous
+tension exploded in a wave of laughter and exclamations of wonderment.
+Frost declared he had never seen such a spectacle in all his life; four
+grizzly bears in deadly combat; the din of battle; the wild bellowing;
+and two bowmen shooting arrow after arrow into this jumble of
+struggling beasts.
+
+
+[Illustration: OUR CAMP AT SQUAW LAKE, WYOMING]
+
+
+[Illustration: THE RESULT OF OUR FIRST ENCOUNTER WITH A CHARGING
+GRIZZLY BEAR]
+
+
+[Illustration: BRINGING HOME THE TROPHIES]
+
+
+The snow was trampled and soaked with blood as though there had been an
+Indian massacre. We paced off the distance at which the charging female
+had been stopped. It was exactly eight yards. A mighty handy shot!
+
+We went down to view the remains. Young had three arrows in the old
+bear, one deep in her neck, its point emerging back of the shoulder. He
+shot that as she came at us. His first arrow struck anterior to her
+shoulder, entered her chest, and cut her left lung from top to bottom.
+His third arrow pierced her thorax, through and through, and lay on the
+ground beside her with only its feathers in the wound.
+
+My first arrow cut below the diaphragm, penetrated the stomach and
+liver, severed the gall ducts and portal vein. My second arrow passed
+completely through her abdomen and lay on the ground several yards
+beyond her. It had cut the intestines in a dozen places and opened
+large branches of the mesenteric artery.
+
+The bullet from Frost's gun had entered at the right shoulder,
+fractured the humerus, blown a hole an inch in diameter in the chest
+wall, opened up a jagged hole in the trachea, and dissipated its energy
+in the left lung. No wound of exit was found, the soft nose
+copper-jacketed bullet apparently having gone to pieces after striking
+the bone.
+
+Anatomically speaking, it was an effective shot, knocked the bear down
+and crippled her, but was not an immediately fatal wound. We had her
+killed with arrows, but she did not know it. She undoubtedly would have
+been right on us in another second. The outcome of this hypothetical
+encounter I leave to those with vivid imaginations.
+
+We hereby express our gratitude to Ned Frost.
+
+Now one of us had to rush off and get the rest of the party. Judge
+Hulbert and my brother were in another valley in quest of bear. So Ned
+set off at a rapid tramp across the bogs, streams, and hills to find
+them. Within an hour they returned together to view the wreckage.
+Photographs were taken, the skinning and autopsy were performed. Then
+we looked around for the wounded cub. Frost trailed him by almost
+invisible blood stains and tracks, and found him less than a quarter of
+a mile away, huddled up as if asleep on the hillside, my arrow nestled
+to his breast. The broken shaft with its blade deep in the thorax had
+completely severed the head of his humerus, cut two ribs, and killed
+him by hemorrhage from the pulmonary arteries. Half-grown as he was, he
+would have made an ugly antagonist for any man.
+
+His mother, a fine mature lady of the old school, showed by her teeth
+and other lineaments her age and respectability. In autumn she would
+have weighed four or five hundred pounds. We weighed her in
+installments with our spring scales; she registered three hundred and
+five pounds. She was in poor condition and her pelt was not suitable
+for museum purposes. But these features could not be determined readily
+beforehand. The juvenile Ursus weighed one hundred and thirty-five
+pounds. We measured them, gathered their bones for the museum,
+shouldered their hides, and turned back to camp.
+
+That night Ned Frost said, "Boys, when you proposed shooting grizzly
+bears with the bow and arrow, I thought it a fine sporting proposition,
+but I had my doubts about its success. Now I know that you can shoot
+through and kill the biggest grizzly in Wyoming!"
+
+Our instructions on leaving California were to secure a large male
+_Ursus Horribilis Imperator_, a good representative female, and two or
+three cubs. The female we had shot filled the requirements fairly well,
+but the two-year-old cub was at the high school age and hardly cute
+enough to be admired. Moreover, no sooner had we sent the news of our
+first success to the Museum than we were informed that this size cub
+was not wanted and that we must secure little ones.
+
+So we set out to get some of this year's vintage in small bears.
+Ordinarily, there is no difficulty in coming in contact with bears in
+Yellowstone; in fact, it is more common to try to keep some of the
+hotel variety from eating at the same table with you. But not a single
+bear, black, brown, or silver-tipped, now called upon us. We traveled
+all over that beautiful Park, from Mammoth Hot Springs to the Lake. We
+hunted over every well-known bear district. Tower Falls, Specimen
+Ridge, Buffalo Corrals, Mt. Washburn, Dunraven Pass (under twenty-five
+feet of snow), Antelope Creek, Pelican Meadows, Cub Creek, Steamboat
+Point, and kept the rangers busy on the lookout for bear. From eight to
+fifteen hours a day we hunted. We walked over endless miles of
+mountains, climbed over countless logs, plowed through snow and slush,
+and raked the valleys with our field glasses.
+
+But bears were as scarce as hen's teeth. We saw a few tracks but
+nothing compared to those seen in other years.
+
+We began to have a sneaking idea that the bear had all been killed off.
+We knew they had been a pest to campers and were becoming a menace to
+human life. We suspected the Park authorities of quiet extermination.
+Several of the rangers admitted that a selective killing was carried
+out yearly to rid the preserve of the more dangerous individuals.
+
+Then the elk began to pour back into the Park; singly, in couples, and
+in droves they returned, lean and scraggly. A few began to drop their
+calves. Then we began to see bear signs. The grizzly follow the elk,
+and after they come out of hibernation and get their fill of green
+grass, they naturally take to elk calves. Occasionally they include the
+mother in the menu.
+
+We also began to follow the elk. We watched at bait. We sat up nights
+and days at a time, seeing only a few unfavorable specimens and these
+were as wild and as wary as deer. We found the mosquitoes more deadly
+than the bear. We tracked big worthy old boys around in circles and had
+various frustrated encounters with she-bears and cubs.
+
+Upon one occasion we were tracking a prospective specimen through the
+woods, proceeding with great caution, when evidently the beast heard
+us. Suddenly, he turned on his tracks and came on a dead run for us. I
+was in advance and instantly drew my bow, holding it for the right
+moment to shoot. The bear came directly in our front, not more than
+twenty yards away and being startled by the sight of us, threw his
+locomotive mechanism into reverse and skidded towards us in a cloud of
+snow and forest leaves. In the fraction of a second, I perceived that
+he was afraid and not a proper specimen for our use. I held my arrow
+and the bear with an indignant and disgusted look, made a precipitous
+retreat. It was an unexpected surprise on both sides.
+
+They say that the Indians avoided the Yellowstone region, thinking it a
+land of evil spirits. In our wanderings, however, we picked up on
+Steamboat Point a beautiful red chert arrow-head, undoubtedly shot by
+an Indian at elk years before Columbus burst in upon these good people.
+In Hayden Valley we found an obsidian spear head, another sign that the
+Indian knew good hunting grounds.
+
+But no Indian was ever so anxious to meet grizzly as we were. We hunted
+continually, but found none that suited us; we had to have the best.
+Frost assured us that we had made a mistake in ever trying to get
+grizzlies in the Park--and that in the time we spent there we could
+have secured all our required specimens in the game fields of Wyoming
+or Montana.
+
+A month passed; the bears were beginning to lose their winter coats;
+our party began to disintegrate. My brother and the Judge were
+compelled to return to Detroit. A week or so later Ned Frost and the
+cook were scheduled to take out another party of hunters from Cody and
+prepared to leave us. Young and I were determined to stick it out until
+the last chance was exhausted. We just had to get those specimens.
+
+Before Frost left us, however, he packed us up to the head of Cascade
+Creek with our bows and arrows, bed rolls, a tarpaulin, and a couple of
+boxes of provisions.
+
+We had received word from a ranger that a big old grizzly had been seen
+at Soda Butte and we prepared to go after him. At the last moment
+before departure, a second word came that probably this same bear had
+moved down to Tower Falls and was ranging between this point and the
+Canyon, killing elk around Dunraven Pass.
+
+Young and I scouted over this area and found diggings and his tracks.
+
+A good-sized bear will have a nine-inch track. This monster's was
+eleven inches long. We saw where he made his kills and used certain
+fixed trails going up and down the canyons.
+
+Frost gave us some parting advice and his blessing, consigned us to our
+fate, and went home.
+
+Left to ourselves, we two archers inspected our tackle and put
+everything in prime condition. Our bows had stood the many wettings
+well, but we oiled them again. New strings were put on and thoroughly
+waxed. Our arrows were straightened, their feathers dried and preened
+in the sun. The broad-heads were set on straight and sharpened to the
+last degree, and so prepared we determined to do our utmost. We were
+ready for the big fellow.
+
+In our reconnaissance we found that he was a real killer. His trail was
+marked by many bloody episodes. It seemed quite probable that he was
+the bear that two years before burst in upon a party of surveyors in
+the mountains and kept them treed all night. It is not unlikely that he
+was the same bear that caused the death of Jack Walsh. He seemed too
+expert in planning murder. We saw by his tracks how he lay in ambush
+watching a herd of elk, how he sneaked up on a mother elk and her
+recently born calf on the outskirts of the band, and with a great leap
+threw himself upon the two and killed them.
+
+In several places we saw the skins of these little wapiti licked clean
+and empty of bodily structure. No other male grizzly was permitted to
+enter his domain. He was, in fact, the monarch of the mountain, the
+great bear of Dunraven Pass.
+
+We pitched our little tent in a secluded wood some three miles from the
+lake at the head of Cascade Creek, and began to lay our plan of attack.
+We were by this time inured to fatigue and disappointment. Weariness
+and loss of sleep had produced a dogged determination that knew no
+relaxation. And yet we were cheerful. Young has that fine quality so
+essential to a hunting companion, imperturbable good nature, never
+complaining, no matter how heavy the load, how long the trail, how late
+or how early the hour, how cold, how hot, how little, or how poor the
+food.
+
+We were there to win and nothing else mattered. If it rained and we
+must wait, we took out our musical instruments, built up the fire and
+soothed our troubled souls with harmony. This is better than tobacco or
+whiskey for the purpose. In fact, Young is so abstemious that even tea
+or coffee seem a bit intemperate to him, and are only to be used under
+great physical strain; and as for profanity, why, I had to do all the
+swearing for the two of us.
+
+We were trained down to rawhide and sinew, keyed to alertness and ready
+for any emergency.
+
+Often in our wanderings at night we ran unexpectedly upon wild beasts
+in the dark. Some of these were bears. Our pocket flashlights were used
+as defensive weapons. A snort, a crashing retreat through the brush
+told us that our visitant had departed in haste, unable to stand the
+glaring light of modern science.
+
+We soon found that our big fellow was a night rover also, and visited
+his various kills under the cloak of darkness. In one particularly
+steep and rugged canyon, he crossed a little creek at a set place. Up
+on the side of this canyon he mounted to the plateau above by one of
+three possible trails. At the top within forty yards of one of these
+was a small promontory of rock upon which we decided to form a blind
+and await his coming. We fashioned a shelter of young jack pines,
+constructed like a miniature corral, less than three by six feet in
+area, but very natural in appearance. Between us and the trail was a
+quantity of down timber which we hoped would act as an impediment to an
+onrushing bear. And the perpendicular face of our outcropping elevated
+us some twelve or thirteen feet above the steep hillside. A small tree
+stood near our position and offered a possibility in case of attack.
+But we had long ago decided that no man can clamber up a tree in time
+to escape a grizzly charging at a distance less than fifty yards. We
+could be approached from the rear, but altogether it was an ideal
+ambush.
+
+The wind blew steadily up the canyon all night long and carried our
+scent away from the trail. Above us on the plateau was a recently
+killed elk which acted as a perpetual invitation to bears and other
+prowlers of the night.
+
+So we started watching in this blind, coming soon after dusk and
+remaining until sunrise. The nights were cold, the ground pitiless, and
+the moon, nearly at its full, crept low through a maze of mist.
+
+Dressed in our warmest clothing and permitting ourselves one blanket
+and a small piece of canvas, we huddled together in a cramped posture
+and kept vigil through the long hours. Neither of us smoked anyway, and
+of course, this was absolutely taboo; we hardly whispered, and even
+shifted our positions with utmost caution. Before us lay our bows ready
+strung, and arrows, both in the quiver belted upright to the screen and
+standing free close at hand.
+
+The first evening we saw an old she-bear and her two-year-old cubs come
+up the path. They passed us with that soft shuffling gait so uncanny to
+hear in the dark. We were delighted that they showed no sign of having
+detected us. But they were not suited to our purpose and we let them
+go. The female was homely, fretful and nervous. The cubs were yellow
+and ungainly. We looked for better things.
+
+Bears have personality, as obvious as humans. Some are lazy, some
+alert, surly, or timid. Nearly all the females we saw showed that
+irritability and irascible disposition that go with the cares of
+maternity. This family was decidedly commonplace.
+
+They disappeared in the gloom, and we waited and waited for the big
+fellow that some time must appear.
+
+But morning came first; we stole from our blind, chilled and stiffened,
+and wandered back to camp to breakfast and sleep. The former was a
+fairly successful event, but the latter was made almost impossible by
+the swarms of mosquitoes that beset us. A smudge fire and canvas head-
+coverings gave us only a partial immunity. By sundown we were on our
+way again to the blind, but another cold dreary night passed without
+adventure.
+
+On our way to camp in the dim light of early dawn, a land fog hung low
+in the valley. As we came up a rough path there suddenly appeared out
+of the obscurity three little bear cubs, not thirty-five yards away.
+They winded us, squeaked and stood on their hind legs, peering in our
+direction. We dropped like stones in our tracks, scarcely breathing,
+figuratively frozen to the ground, for instantly the fiercest-looking
+grizzly we ever saw bounded over the cubs and straddled them between
+her forelegs. Nothing could stop her if she came on. A little brush
+intervened and she could not locate us plainly for we could see her
+eyes wander in search of us; but her trembling muscles, the vicious
+champing of her jaws, and the guttural growls, all spoke of immediate
+attack. We were petrified. She wavered in her intent, turned, cuffed
+her cubs down the hill, snorted and finally departed with her family.
+
+We heaved a deep sigh of relief. But she was wonderful, she was the
+most beautiful bear we had ever seen; large, well proportioned, with
+dark brown hair having just a touch of silver. She was a patrician, the
+aristocrat of the species. We marked her well.
+
+Next day, just at sunset, we got our first view of the great bear of
+Dunraven Pass. He was coming down a distant canyon trail. He looked
+like a giant in the twilight. With long swinging strides he threw
+himself impetuously down the mountainside. Great power was in every
+movement. He was magnificent! He seemed as large as a horse, and had
+that grand supple strength given to no other predatory animal
+
+Though we were used to bears, a strange misgiving came over me. We
+proposed to slay this monster with the bow and arrow. It seemed
+preposterous!
+
+In the blind another long cold night passed. The moon drifted slowly
+across the heavens and sank in a haze of clouds at daybreak. Just at
+the hush of dawn, the homely female and her tow-headed progeny came
+shuffling by. We were desperate for specimens, and one of these would
+match that which we already had. I drew up my bow and let fly a broad-
+head at one of the cubs. It struck him in the ribs. Precipitately, the
+whole band took flight. My quarry fell against an obstructing log and
+died. His mother stopped, came back several times, gazed at him
+pensively, then disappeared. We got out, carried him to a distant spot
+and skinned him. He weighed one hundred and twenty pounds. My arrow had
+shaved a piece off his heart. Death was instantaneous.
+
+We packed home the hind quarters and made a fine grizzly stew. Before
+this we had found that the old bears were tough and rancid, but the
+little ones were as sweet and tender as suckling pigs. This stew was
+particularly good, well seasoned with canned tomatoes and the last of
+our potatoes and onions. Sad to relate the better part of this savory
+pot next day was eaten by a wandering vagabond of the _Ursus_ family.
+Not content with our stew, he devoured all our sugar, bacon, and other
+foodstuffs not in cans, and wound up his debauch by wiping his feet on
+our beds and generally messing up the camp. Probably he was a regular
+camp thief.
+
+That night, early in the watch, we heard the worthy old boy come down
+the canyon, hot in pursuit of a large brown bear. As he ran, the great
+animal made quite a noise. His claws clattered on the rocks, and the
+ground seemed to shake beneath us. We shifted our bows ready for
+action, and felt the keen edge of our arrows. Way off in the forest we
+heard him tree the cowardly intruder with such growls and ripping of
+bark that one would imagine he was about to tear the tree down.
+
+After a long time he desisted and, grunting and wheezing, came slowly
+up the canyon. With the night glasses we could see him. He seemed to be
+considerably heated with his exercise and scratched himself against a
+young fir tree. As he stood on his hind legs with his back to the trunk
+and rubbed himself to and fro, the tree swayed like a reed; and as he
+lifted his nose I observed that it just touched one of the lower
+branches. In the morning, after he had gone and we were on our way to
+camp, we passed this very fir and stretching up on my tip toes, I could
+just touch the limb with my fingers. Having been a pole vaulter in my
+youth, I knew by experience that this measurement was over seven feet
+six inches. He was a real he-bear! We wanted him more than ever.
+
+The following day it rained--in fact, it rained nearly every day near
+the end of our stay; but this was a drenching that stopped at sunset,
+leaving all the world sweet and fragrant. The moon came out full and
+beautiful, everything seemed propitious.
+
+We went to the blind about an hour before midnight, feeling that surely
+this evening the big fellow would come. After two hours of frigidity
+and immobility, we heard the velvet footfalls of bear coming up the
+canyon. There came our patrician and her royal family. The little
+fellows pattered up the trail before their mother. They came within
+range. I signalled Young and we shot together at the cubs. We struck.
+There was a squeak, a roar, a jumble of shadowy figures and the entire
+flock of bears came tumbling in our direction.
+
+At that very moment the big grizzly appeared on the scene. There were
+five bears in sight. Turning her head from side to side, trying to find
+her enemy, the she-bear came towards us. I whispered to Young, "Shoot
+the big fellow." At the same time, I drew an arrow to the head, and
+drove it at the oncoming female. It struck her full in the chest. She
+reared; threw herself sidewise, bellowed with rage, staggered and fell
+to the ground. She rose again, weakened, stumbled forward, and with
+great gasps she died. In less than half a minute it was all over. The
+little ones ran up the hill past us, one later returned and sat up at
+its mother's head, then disappeared in the dark forever.
+
+While all this transpired, the monster grizzly was romping back and
+forth in the shaded forest not more than sixty-five yards away. With
+deep booming growls like distant thunder, he voiced his anger and
+intent to kill. As he flitted between the shadows of the trees, the
+moonlight glinted on his massive body; he was enormous.
+
+Young discharged three arrows at him. I shot two. We should have
+landed, he was so large. But he galloped off and I saw my last arrow at
+the point blank range of seventy-five yards, fall between his legs. He
+was gone. We thought we had missed the beast and grief descended heavy
+upon us. The thought of all the weary days and nights of hunting and
+waiting, and now to have lost him, was very painful.
+
+After our palpitating hearts were quiet and the world seemed peaceful,
+we got out of our blind and skinned the female by flashlight. She was a
+magnificent specimen, just right in color and size for the Museum, not
+fat, but weighing a trifle over five hundred pounds. My arrow had
+severed a rib and buried its head in her heart. We measured her and
+saved her skull and long bones for the taxidermist.
+
+At daybreak we searched for the cubs and found one dead under a log
+with an arrow through his brain. The others had disappeared.
+
+We had no idea that we hit the great bear, but just to gather up our
+shafts, we went over the ground where he had been.
+
+One of Young's arrows was missing!
+
+That gave us a thrill; perhaps we had hit him after all! We went
+further in the direction he had gone; there was a trace of blood.
+
+We trailed him. We knew it was dangerous business. Through clumps of
+jack pines we cautiously followed, peering under every pile of brush
+and fallen tree. Deep into the forest we tracked him, where his bloody
+smear was left upon fallen logs. Soon we found where he had rested.
+Then we discovered the fore part of Young's arrow. It had gone through
+him. There was a pool of blood. Then we found the feathered butt which
+he had drawn out with his teeth.
+
+Four times he wallowed down in the mud or soft earth to rest and cool
+his wound. Then beneath a great fir he had made a bed in the soft loam
+and left it. Past this we could not track him. We hunted high and low,
+but no trace of him could we find. Apparently he had ceased bleeding
+and his footprints were not recorded on the stony ground about. We made
+wide circles, hoping to pick up his trail. We searched up and down the
+creek. We cross-cut every forest path and runway, but no vestige
+remained.
+
+
+
+[Illustration: LOOKING FOR GRIZZLIES ON CUB CREEK]
+
+
+[Illustration: THE TREE THAT NED FROST CLIMBED TO ESCAPE DEATH]
+
+
+[Illustration: MY FEMALE GRIZZLY AND THE ARROW THAT KILLED HER]
+
+
+[Illustration: ARTHUR YOUNG SLAYS THE MONARCH OF THE MOUNTAINS]
+
+
+He was gone. We even looked up in the tree and down in the ground where
+he had wallowed. For five hours we searched in vain, and at last, worn
+with disappointment and fatigue, we lay down and slept on the very spot
+where he last stopped.
+
+Near sundown we awoke, ate a little food, and started all over again to
+find the great bear. We retraced our steps and followed the fading
+evidence till it brought us again to the pit beneath the fir tree. He
+must be near. It was absolutely impossible for any animal to have lost
+so much blood and travel more than a few hundred yards past this spot.
+We had explored the creek bottom and the cliffs above from below, and
+we now determined to traverse every foot of the rim of the canyon from
+above. As we climbed over the face of the rock we saw a clot of dried
+blood. We let ourselves down the sheer descent, came upon a narrow
+little ledge, and there below us lay the huge monster on his back,
+against a boulder, cold and stiff, as dead as Cesar. Our hearts nearly
+burst with happiness.
+
+There lay the largest grizzly bear in Wyoming, dead at our feet. His
+rugged coat was matted with blood. Well back in his chest the arrow
+wound showed clear. I measured him; twenty-six inches of bear had been
+pierced through and through. One arrow killed him. He was tremendous.
+His great wide head; his worn, glistening teeth; his massive arms; his
+vast, ponderous feet and long curved claws; all were there. He was a
+wonderful beast. It seemed incredible. I thumped Young on the shoulder:
+"My, that was a marvelous shot!"
+
+We started to skin our quarry. It was a stupendous job, as he weighed
+nearly one thousand pounds, and lay on the steep canyon side ready to
+roll on and crush us. But with ropes we lashed him by the neck to a
+tree and split him up the back, later box-skinning the legs according
+to the method required by the museum.
+
+By flashlight, acetylene lamp, candle light, fire light and moonlight,
+we labored. We used up all our knives, and having neglected to bring
+our whet-stones, sharpened our blades on the volcanic boulders, about
+us. By assiduous industry for nine straight hours, we finished him
+after a fashion. His skin was thick and like scar tissue. His meat was
+all tendons and gristle. The hide was as tight as if glued on.
+
+In the middle of the night we stopped long enough to broil some grizzly
+cub steaks and brew a pot of tea; then we went at it again.
+
+As we dismembered him we weighed the parts. The veins were absolutely
+dry of blood, and without this substance, which represents a loss of
+nearly 10 per cent of his weight, he was nine hundred and sixteen
+pounds. There was hardly an inch of fat on his back. At the end of the
+autumn this adipose layer would be nearly six inches thick. He would
+then have weighed over fourteen hundred pounds. He stood nearly four
+feet high at the shoulders, while his skull measured eighteen and a
+half inches long; his entire body length was seven feet four inches.
+
+As we cleaned his bones we hurled great slabs of muscle down the
+canyon, knowing from experience that this would be a sign for all other
+bears to leave the vicinity. Only the wolves and jays will eat grizzly
+meat.
+
+At last we finished him, as the sun rose over the mountain ridges and
+gilded all the canyon with glory. We cleaned and salted the pelts,
+packed them on our backs, and, dripping with salt brine and bear
+grease, staggered to the nearest wagon trail. The hide of the big bear,
+with unskinned paws and skull, weighed nearly one hundred and fifty
+pounds.
+
+We cached our trophies, tramped the weary miles back to camp, cleaned
+up, packed and wandered to the nearest station, from which we ordered a
+machine. When this arrived we gathered our belongings, turned our
+various specimens over to a park ranger, to be given the final
+treatments, and started on our homeward trip.
+
+We were so exhausted from loss of sleep, exertion and excitement, that
+we sank into a stupor that lasted almost the entire way home.
+
+The California Academy of Sciences now has a handsome representative
+group of _Ursus Horribilis Imperator_. We have the extremely
+satisfactory feeling that we killed five of the finest grizzly bear in
+Wyoming. The sport was fair and clean, and we did it all with the bow
+and arrow.
+
+
+
+
+XV
+
+
+ALASKAN ADVENTURES
+
+
+It seems as if Fate had chosen my hunting companion, Arthur Young, to
+add to the honor and the legends of the bow. At any rate it fell to his
+lot to make two trips to Alaska between the years 1922 and 1925.
+
+He and his friend, Jack Robertson, were financed in a project to
+collect moving-picture scenes of the Northland.
+
+They were instructed to show the country in all its seasonal phases, to
+depict the rivers, forests, glaciers and mountains, particularly to
+record the summer beauties of Alaska. The animal life was to be
+featured in full:--fish, birds, small game, caribou, mountain sheep,
+moose and bear, all were to be captured on the celluloid film, and with
+all this a certain amount of hunting with the bow was to be included
+and the whole woven into a little story of adventure.
+
+Equipped with cameras, camp outfit and archery tackle, they sailed for
+Seward. From here they ventured into the wilderness as circumstances
+directed. Sometimes they went by boat to Kadiac Island, sometimes to
+the Kenai Peninsula, or they journeyed by dog sleds and packs inland.
+They spent the better part of two years in this hard, exacting work,
+often carrying as much as a hundred pounds on their backs for many
+miles. Great credit must be given to Art's partner Jack Robertson, for
+his energy, bravery and fortitude. His work with the camera will make
+history, but for the time being we shall focus our attention on the man
+with the bow. Only a small portion of Young's time was devoted to
+hunting, the exigencies incidental to travel and gathering animal
+pictures were such that archery was of secondary importance.
+
+He hunted and shot ptarmigan, some on the wing; he added grouse and
+rabbit meat to the scant larder of their "go light" outfit. He shot
+graylings and salmon in the streams. He could easily have killed
+caribou because they operated close to vast herds of these foolish
+beasts. However, at the time it seemed that there was no hurry about
+the matter; they had meat in camp, and pictures were of greater
+interest just then. They expected to see plenty of these animals.
+Strangely enough the herd suddenly left the country and no further
+opportunity presented itself for shooting them. This was no great
+disappointment because the sport was too easy. What did seem worth
+while was the killing of the great Alaskan moose. These beasts are the
+largest game animal on this continent, with the exception of the almost
+extinct bison.
+
+Young had his first chance at moose while on the Kenai Peninsula. Here
+the boys were camped and having finished his camera work Art took a day
+off to hunt.
+
+In the afternoon he discovered a large old bull lying down in a
+burnt-over area, where approach by stealth was possible, so he began
+his stalk with utmost caution, paying particular attention to scent and
+sound. By crawling on his hands and knees he came within a hundred and
+fifty yards, when his progress was stopped by a fallen tree. To go
+around it, would expose him to vision; to climb over, would alarm the
+animal by snapping twigs; so Young decided to dig under. He worked with
+his hunting knife and hands for one hour to accomplish this operation.
+When he had passed this obstacle he continued his crawling till he
+reached a distance of sixty yards. At this stage Art called the old
+bull with a birch bark horn, then the moose heard him and stood up. The
+brush was so thick that he could not shoot immediately, but waited as
+the old bull circled to catch his wind and answered the challenge. When
+he presented a fair target at seventy yards or so, Art drove an arrow
+at him. It struck deep in the flank, up to the feather ranging forward.
+The bull was only startled a trifle and trotted off a hundred yards.
+Here he stopped to look and listen. Young drew his bow again, and
+overshooting his mark, his arrow struck one of the broad thick palms of
+the antlers. The point pierced the two inches of bone and wedged tight,
+making a sharp report as it hit. This started the animal off at a fast
+trot. Young followed slowly at some distance and soon had the
+satisfaction of seeing the moose waver in his course and lie down.
+After a reasonable wait the hunter advanced to his quarry and found him
+dead. The triumph of such an episode is more or less mixed with misery.
+The pleasure undoubtedly would have been greater had some other lusty
+bow man been with him, but as it was he had to feast his eyes alone,
+moreover he had to make his way back to camp, which was some eight
+miles off, and night rapidly coming on.
+
+
+[Illustration: BULL MOOSE BAGGED ON THE KENAI PENINSULA]
+
+
+This part of the story was just as thrilling to Art, because he must
+stumble through the rough land of "little sticks" in the dark with the
+constant apprehension of meeting some unwelcome Alaska brown bear,
+which were thick there, and also the extremely unpleasant experience of
+running into dead trees, tripping over fallen limbs and dropping into
+gullies. He reached camp ultimately, I believe. Next day he returned
+with his companion for meat, his antler trophy and the picture, which
+we present.
+
+This bull weighed approximately sixteen hundred pounds and had a spread
+of sixty inches across its antlers.
+
+Upon the second expedition a year later, Young bagged another moose.
+Here the arrow penetrated both sides of the chest and caused almost
+instant death, showing that size is not a hindrance to a quick exodus.
+
+It is surprising even to us to see the extreme facility with which an
+arrow can interrupt the essential physiological processes of life and
+destroy it. We have come to the belief that no beast is too tough or
+too large to be slain by an arrow. With especially constructed heads
+sharpened to the utmost nicety, I have shot through a double thickness
+of elephant hide, two inches of cardboard, a bag of shaving and gone
+into an inch of wood. We feel sure that having penetrated the hide of a
+pachyderm his ribs can easily be severed and the heart or pulmonary
+cavity entered. Any considerable incision of either of these vital
+areas must soon cause death. And this is a field experiment which we
+propose to try in the near future.
+
+There is a legitimate excuse for shooting animals such as moose, where
+food is a problem and the bow bears an honorable part in the episode.
+We feel moreover that by using the bow on this large game we are
+playing ultimately for game preservation. For by shaming the "mighty
+hunter" and his unfair methods in the use of powerful destructive
+agents, we feel that we help to develop better sporting ethics.
+
+It was partly on this account, and partly to answer the dare of those
+who have said, "You may hunt the tame bears of California and Wyoming,
+but you cannot fool with the big Kadiac bears of Alaska with your
+little bow and arrow," that Young determined to go after these monsters
+and see if they were as fierce and invulnerable as claimed. At the
+present writing we who shoot the bow have slain more than a dozen bears
+with our shafts, but the mighty Kadiac brown grizzly has laughed at us
+from his frozen lair--as the literary nature fakir might say--we have
+been told that all that is necessary if you wish to meet a brownie, is
+to give him your address in Alaska and he will look you up. Also we
+have been told that once insulted he will tear a house down to "get
+even with you,"--so I shook Art's hand good-bye, when he started on
+this Kadiac escapade, and told him to "give 'em hell."
+
+After a long time he came back to San Francisco, and this is the story
+he told me--and Art has no guile in his system but is as straight as a
+bowstring.
+
+"We made a false start in going after our bears. We took a boat from
+Seward and sailed to Seldie, then to Kenai Peninsula. Here we hunted
+for two solid weeks and found practically no signs of brownies.
+
+"I decided at the end of this period to waste no more time, but to pull
+out of the country and sail back to Seward. We had but a short time to
+complete our picture before the last boat left the Arctic waters, but
+hearing of good bear signs on Kadiac Island we hit out for this place
+and landed in Uganik Bay. Here in the Long Arm, we found a country with
+many streams flowing down from the mountains which constitute this
+Island, and much small timber in combination with open grassy glades. A
+type of country that is particularly suited for photographic work and
+bow hunting.
+
+"After several days' exploring we discovered that the bears were
+catching salmon in the streams and we were successful in photographing
+as many as seven grizzlies at once. We took pictures of the bears
+wading in the water looking for fish. Usually the bear slaps the salmon
+out of the stream, then goes up on the bank and eats it. The "humpies"
+were so plentiful here, however, that they were tossed out on the bank,
+but not eaten, the bear preferring to capture one while in the water
+then wade about on his hind legs while he held the fish in his arms and
+devoured it.
+
+"We got all this and many comic antics of young bears climbing trees
+and playing about by using a telephoto lens. After the camera man was
+satisfied I proposed that we 'pull off' a 'stunt' with the bow.
+
+"By good fortune we saw four bears coming down the mountain side to
+fish. They were making their way slowly through an open valley. The
+camera was stationed at a commanding point and I ran up a dry wash
+thickly grown with willow and alder to head off the bears. I was able
+to get within a hundred yards by use of the willow cover, then the
+brush became too thin to hide me, so I walked boldly out into the open
+to meet the bears. I practically invited them to charge since they were
+reputed to be so easily insulted. At first they paid little attention
+to me, then the two in advance sat up on their haunches in astonishment
+and curiosity. I approached to a distance of fifty yards, then the
+largest brownie began champing his jaws and growling; then he 'pinned
+back his ears' preparing to come at me. Just as he was about to lunge
+forward I shot him in the chest. The arrow went deep and stuck out a
+foot beyond his shoulder. He dropped on all fours and before he could
+make up his mind what hit him, I shot him again in the flank. This
+turned him and feeling himself badly wounded he wheeled about and ran.
+While this was going on an old female also stood in a menacing
+attitude, but as the wounded bear galloped past her, she came to the
+ground and ran diagonally from us. All of them followed suit, and as
+they swept out of the field of vision the wounded bear weakened and
+fell less than a hundred yards from the camera.
+
+"True to his standards the camera man continued to grind out the film
+to the very last, so the whole picture is complete. You will see it
+some day for yourself and it will answer all doubts about the
+invulnerable status of the Kadiac bears."
+
+Young himself was not particularly elated over this conquest. He knew
+long ago that the Kadiac bear was no more formidable than the grizzlies
+we had slain and he only undertook this adventure for show purposes.
+Moreover though he used his heavy osage orange bow and usual
+broad-heads, he declares that he believes he can kill the largest bear
+in Alaska with a fifty pound weapon and proportionately adjusted
+arrows. Both Young and I are convinced of the necessity of very sharp
+broad-heads, and trust more to a keen blade and a quick flight than to
+power.
+
+
+[Illustration: THE GREAT KADIAK BEAR BROUGHT LOW]
+
+
+During his Alaskan travels Art preferred his Osage bows to the yew.
+They stood being dragged over rocks and falling down mountain sides
+better than the softer yew wood. His three bows were under five feet
+six inches in length, short for convenience and each pulled over
+eighty-five pounds. The country in which he worked was so rocky that it
+was most disastrous on arrows, and every shot that missed meant a
+shattered shaft.
+
+Possibly his roughest trip was one taken to picture mountain goats.
+Here a funny incident occurred. Jack and Art were stalking a herd of
+these wary creatures with the camera when suddenly around a point of
+rock the whole band of goats appeared. Art was ahead and had only just
+time enough to duck down on his hands and knees and hide his face close
+to the ground. He stayed so still that the entire flock passed close by
+him almost touching his body, while the camera man did his work from a
+concealed ledge higher up. Though Young counts it little to his credit,
+he shot one of these male goats, which was poised on so precipitous a
+point that it fell over and over down the mountain side and was lost as
+a trophy and as camp meat. Humiliating as such an episode may be, it
+serves, however, to add a coup to the archer's count. And there we let
+the matter rest.
+
+But what is of greater interest is his outwitting a Rocky Mountain Big
+Horn. This animal is considered the greatest game trophy in America. It
+is an extremely alert sheep, all eyes and wisdom. If you expose
+yourself but a second, though you be a mile away from the ram, probably
+you will be seen. And though the sheep may not move while you look at
+him, he is gone when you have completed your toilsome climb and peer
+over the last ledge of rock preparatory to shooting. Ned Frost used to
+say that when he hunted Big Horns he paid no attention to hearing or
+smell, but he was so careful about sight, that when he raised his head
+cautiously over a ridge to observe the sheep, he always lifted a stone
+and peered underneath it, or picked up a bunch of grass and gazed
+through it.
+
+Most hunters are content to stalk this game within three or four
+hundred yards, then aim at it with telescopic sights. It is the last
+word in good hunting.
+
+Stewart Edward White, the author and big game hunter, has said that the
+following experience is one of the finest demonstrations of stalking
+and understanding of animal psychology he knows.
+
+Up near the head of Wood River, Young and his party came on a number of
+Big Horn Sheep and first devoted several days to film work. Then Young
+decided to try for a trophy with the bow. After hunting all morning he
+discovered with his glasses a ram a long way off.
+
+The country was open and had no cover. The ram was resting on a ledge
+of rock elevated above the level of the valley. Even at a distance of
+half a mile it was evident to Art that the ram had seen him, so Young
+studied the sheep and the country carefully before deciding what plan
+to pursue.
+
+From the lay of the land it was plain that no concealment was possible
+and no detour or ambush could be employed. The glasses showed that the
+ram was a fairly old specimen and had a very sophisticated look. In
+fact, to Art he looked conceited and had an expression that said:
+"There is a man, but I am a pretty wise old sheep; I know all about
+men; that fellow hasn't seen me yet and when he does, there is plenty
+of open country back of me; my best plan is to lie still and let this
+tenderfoot pass." So he went on ruminating and blinking at the sun.
+
+Taking this mental attitude into consideration, Young decided that the
+best method of outwitting this particular sheep was to take him at his
+own valuation and proceed as a tenderfoot down the valley. So he walked
+unconcernedly along at an oblique angle to the sheep and never once
+taking a direct look at him. He went gaily along whistling, kicking
+pebbles and swinging his bow. When he had reached a distance of two or
+three hundred yards the old sheep lifted up his head to see what was
+going on. Young paid no attention to him, though he observed him out of
+the corner of his eyes. So the wise old boy settled back content with
+his diagnosis.
+
+Art walked along as innocently as ever. When he was a hundred and fifty
+yards off, the ram raised his head again and took a longer observation.
+He seemed to be changing his mind. Young said to himself, "He will take
+one more look, then he will go. Now is the time to act." So nocking an
+arrow on the string he ran at full speed directly at the sheep, and
+when half way he saw the tip of his horns rise above the ledge and knew
+it was time to stop. He came to his shooting pose and waited, the arrow
+half drawn. Sure enough! Out walked the old fellow to the very edge of
+the parapet and gazed over. Off flew the arrow and in the twilight it
+was lost to vision, but he heard it strike and saw the ram wheel in
+flight. As it disappeared over the ridge Art followed at a run;
+reaching the top he peered cautiously about and saw the sheep at no
+great distance standing still with its legs spread wide apart. He knew
+by the posture that it was done for. So he went back to the valley and
+because of the distance from camp and the oncoming darkness he made a
+fire and "Siwashed it" or camped out in the open all night without
+blankets. In the morning he went after his trophy and found it near the
+spot last seen. It was a fine specimen. The arrow had pierced it from
+front to rear completely through and was lost; a center shot at eighty
+yards; a most remarkable bit of archery and hunting stratagem. This
+head now decorates the dining room of the Young home in San Francisco.
+Unfortunately the moose antlers were cached near a river in Alaska and
+an unprecedented flood carried them out to sea.
+
+While speaking of Alaskan rivers there recurs to my mind a most
+remarkable incident related by Young. In one picture required for their
+film it was necessary to show a canoe in the course of construction,
+the subsequent use of this vessel and an upset in the turbulent waters
+of the river. To represent his bow in its canvas case, and still to
+spare that weapon a wetting, Young went down the river bank to pick out
+a stick about the same size to put in his bow case. Taking the first
+piece that came to hand he started to place it in the case, when struck
+by its smoothness he looked at it and found he had a weatherbeaten old
+Indian bow in his hand. It seemed like a sign, a good omen,--for we
+playfully indulge in omens in these romantic adventures with the bow.
+
+
+[Illustration: ARTHUR YOUNG OUTWITS THE ALASKA BIGHORN]
+
+
+Studying this implement later I found it apparently to be a birch Urock
+bow, some five feet long, having nocks and a place for the usual
+perpendicular piece of wood bound on at the handle to check the string.
+It would have pulled about sixty pounds, good enough for caribou
+hunting.
+
+And so in brief are the adventures of Art Young in Alaska.
+
+But who can speak of the adventures in the heart of our archer? Here is
+no common hunter, no insensate slayer of animals. Here we have the poet
+afoot,--the archaic adventurer in modern game fields; the champion of
+fair play and clean sport; all that is strong and manly.
+
+I take off my hat to Arthur Young.
+
+
+
+
+A CHAPTER OF ENCOURAGEMENT
+
+BY
+
+STEWART EDWARD WHITE
+
+
+No one can read Dr. Pope's book without an appreciation of the romance
+and charm of the long bow and the broad-head arrow. And no one can
+doubt that the little group of which he writes has proved that the
+thing can be done. Its members have brought to bag quantities of small
+game, unnumbered deer, mountain goat, big horn sheep, moose, caribou,
+thirteen black bears, six grizzlies, and one monster Kadiak bear. That
+point it proved beyond doubt. But, each will ask; how about it for me?
+These men are experts. It all looks very fascinating; but what chance
+have I?
+
+That, I believe, is the first reaction of the average man after he has
+savored the real literary charm of this book and begins to consider the
+practical side of the question. It was my own reaction. Fortunately, I
+live within commuting distance of Dr. Pope, so I have been able to
+resolve my doubts--slowly. My purpose is here to summarize what I found
+out.
+
+In the first place, the utter beginner has in his hands a weapon that
+is adequate and humane. A bad rifle shot or a bad shotgun shot can and
+does "slobber" his game by hitting it in the wrong places or with the
+outer fringe of his pattern. But if an arrow can be landed anywhere in
+the body it is certain and prompt death. This is not only true of the
+chest cavity, but of the belly; and every rifleman knows that a bullet
+in the latter is ineffective and cruel, and a beast so wounded is
+capable of long distances before it dies. The arrow's deadliness
+depends not on its shocking power, which of course is low, but upon
+internal hemorrhage and the very peculiar fact that the admission of
+air in quantity into any part of the body cavity collapses the lungs.
+Furthermore, again unlike the bullet, the broad arrow seems to be as
+effective at the limit of its longest flight as at the nearer ranges.
+So the amateur bowman, suitably armed, may lay this much of comfort to
+his soul: if by the grace of Robin Hood and the little capricious gods
+of luck he does manage to stray a shaft into a beast, it is going to do
+the trick for him. And of course if he keeps on shooting arrows in the
+general direction of game, the doctrine of chances will land him sooner
+or later!
+
+In the meantime--and here is the second point--he is going to have an
+enormous amount of enjoyment from his "close misses." With firearms a
+miss is a miss, and catastrophic. You have failed, and that is all
+there is to it; and you have no earthly means of knowing whether your
+miss was by the scant quarter inch that fairly ruffled the beast's
+crest, or by the disgraceful yards of buck ague or the jerking
+forefinger or the blinking dodging eye. But the beautiful clean flight
+of the arrow can be followed. And when it passes between the neck and
+the bend of wing of wild goose; or it buries its head in the damp earth
+only just below the body line of the unstartled deer, the bowman
+experiences quite as keen a thrill of satisfaction as follows a good
+center with gun or rifle,--even though the game is as scathless as
+though he had missed it by miles. In this type of hunting a miss is
+emphatically _not_ as good as a mile! And the chances are he can try
+again, and yet again, provided nothing else has occurred to affright
+his quarry. To most animals the flight of an arrow is little more than
+the winging past of some strange swift bird.
+
+Thus the joy is not primarily in the size of the bag, nor even in the
+certainty of the bag, but in the woodcraft and the outguessing, and the
+world of little things one must notice to get near enough for his shot,
+and the birds and the breezes and the small matters along the way;
+which is as it should be: and the satisfaction is not wholly centered
+in merely a shot well placed and a trophy quickly come by. Indeed, the
+latter is become almost an incidental; a very welcome and inspiriting
+incidental; a wonderful culmination; but a culmination that is
+necessary only occasionally as a guerdon of emprise rather than an
+invariably indispensability, lacking which the whole expedition must be
+classed as a failure.
+
+At first the seasoned marksman will doubt this. I can only recommend a
+fair trial. One of the most successful experiences of my sporting life
+was one of these "close misses." A very noble buck, broadside on, was
+trotting head up across my front and down a mountain slope nearly a
+hundred and fifty yards away,--out of reasonable range as archers count
+distances. I made my calculations as well as I could and loosed a
+shaft, more in honor of his wide branching antlers than in any sure
+hope. While the arrow was in the air the deer stopped short and looked
+at me. The shaft swept down its long curve and shattered its point
+against a rock at just the right height and about six feet in front of
+the beast. If he had continued his trot, it would have pierced his
+heart. Nothing was the worse for that adventure except the broad-head,
+which was gladly offered to the kindly gods who had so gratifyingly
+watched for me its straight true flight. And I had just as much
+satisfaction from the episode as though I had actually slain the
+deer,--and had had to cut it up and carry it into camp. This would not
+have been true with a rifle. At any range of the bullet's effectiveness
+I should have expected of myself a hit, and a miss would have hugely
+disappointed me with myself and ruined temporarily my otherwise sweet
+disposition.
+
+But even acknowledging all this, the fact indubitably remains that one
+must occasionally get results, one must occasionally _expect_ to get
+results, in order to retain interest. Even though one goes forth boldly
+to slay the bounding roebuck and brings back but the lowly jackrabbit,
+he must once in a blue moon be assured of the jackrabbit. And he must
+get the jackrabbit, not merely through the personal interposition of
+the little gods who preside at roulette tables, but because his bow arm
+held true and his release sweet and the shaft true sped.
+
+All this is perfectly possible. Any man can within a reasonable time
+become a reasonably good shot if he has the persistence to practice,
+and the patience to live through the first discouragements, and the
+ability to get some fun along the way. The game in its essentials seems
+to me a good deal like golf. It has a definite technique of a number of
+definite elements which must coordinate. When that technique is working
+smoothly results are certain. Like golf a man knows just what he is to
+do; only he cannot make himself do it! As the idea gets grooved in his
+brain, the swing--or the release and the hold,--become more and more
+automatic. But always there will be "on" days when he will shoot a par:
+and "off" days when both ball and shaft fly on the wings of
+contrariness.
+
+Of all the qualities above mentioned, I think for the beginner the most
+important is to cherish confident hope through the early
+discouragements. For a long time there seems to be no improvement
+whatever. And there is not improvement as far as score-results go. But
+the man who studies to perfect the elements of his technique, and is
+not merely shooting arrows promiscuously, is actually improving for all
+that. He must strive to remember that not only is each and every point
+important in itself, but that all must coordinate, must be working well
+together. No matter how crisp the release, it avails not an [sic]
+the bow arm falter or the back muscles relax. Again like golf, one day
+one thing will be working well, and another day another; but it is only
+when they are _all_ working well that the ball screams down the fairway
+or the arrow consistently finds its mark. Thus the beginner, practise
+as thoughtfully as he may, will for a time, perhaps a month or so, find
+little or no encouragement in the accuracy of his shaft's flight. This
+is the period when most men, who have started out enthusiastically
+enough, give up in disgust. Then all at once the persistent ones will
+begin to pick up. It is a good deal like dropping stones in a pool. One
+can drop in a great many stones without altering the surface of the
+water; but there comes a time when the addition of a single pebble
+shows results.
+
+In his chapter on Shooting the Bow, Dr. Pope has most adequately
+outlined the technique. If the beginner will do what the doctor there
+tells him to do, he will shoot correctly. Nevertheless he will find it
+necessary to find out for himself just _how_ he is going to do these
+things. It is largely a matter of getting the proper mental picture,
+and finding out how one feels when he is doing the right thing. Each
+probably gets an entirely individual mental image. Nevertheless a few
+hints from the beginner's standpoint may come gracefully from one who
+only yesterday was a beginner, and who today has struggled but little
+beyond the first marker post of progress.
+
+The target game and the hunting game differ somewhat, but the actual
+technique of releasing the arrow is the same in both. I strongly advise
+the use of a regulation target at regulation distances for at least
+half of one's practice. There is an inexorable quality about the
+painted rings. One cannot jolly oneself into a belief of a "pretty good
+one!" as one does when the roving arrow comes close to the little bush.
+Those rings are spaced in very definite inches! Even when one has
+graduated into a fairly hopeful hunting field, one returns every once
+in a while to the target to check himself up, to find out what he is
+doing wrong. And in the target, too, one can find the interest along
+that valley of preliminary discouragement. One should keep all one's
+scores, no matter how bad they may be. Even if a lowly seventy is the
+best one has been able to accomplish, there is a certain satisfaction
+in going after a not-so-slowly seventy-one. Every ten scores or so
+average up, and see what you have. Thus one can chart a sort of glacial
+movement upwards otherwise imperceptible to one's sardonic estimate of
+himself as the World's Champion Dub.
+
+Begin with a light bow; but work up into the heavier weights as rapidly
+as possible. The first bow I used at target weighed forty pounds. The
+first hunting bow, made for me by Dr. Pope, weighs sixty-five. I could
+draw it to the full, but only with difficulty; and it was not in any
+proper control. I seriously begged the doctor to reduce it for me,
+alleging that never would I be able to handle it. He very properly
+laughed at me. Within the year I had worked up to the point where
+seventy-five pounds seemed about right; and at the present writing I
+have one of eighty-two pounds that handles for me much easier than Dr.
+Pope's gift did at first. So begin light, but work up as fast as
+possible. Do not linger with a weak bow simply because it is easier to
+draw and because you can with it, and a light target, make a better
+target score.
+
+Beware of shooting too much just at first. If you strain the muscles of
+your drawing fingers you will have to lay off just when you are most
+eager. They strengthen very rapidly if you give them a chance. Once
+they are hardened to the work you will have no more trouble and can, as
+far as they are concerned, pop away as long as your bow arm holds out;
+but if once you get them tender and sore you will be forced to quit
+until they recover. It's as bad as a sprain.
+
+Start at forty yards. Stand upright, feet about a foot apart, facing a
+point at right angles to the target. Turn the head sharply to the left
+and look at the bull's-eye. _Do not thereafter move it by the fraction
+of an inch._ Bring your right arm across your chest. Pause and
+visualize the shot, collecting your powers. Now promptly raise your bow
+in direct line with the target. Draw the arrow to the head as it comes
+up. All your muscles are, up to this point, alert but tensed only to
+the extent necessary to draw the shaft. At the exact moment of release,
+however, they stiffen to the utmost. It is like a little spurt of
+energy released to speed the arrow on its way. That, I think, is what
+Dr. Pope means when he says one should "put his heart in the bow." It
+helps to imagine yourself trying to drive the arrow right through the
+target. Pay especial attention to the muscles of the small of the back.
+The least relaxation there means an ill-sped shaft. The bow arm must be
+on the point of aim, and _held_ there. The release must be sharply
+backward, and vigorous. Personally I find that my mental image is of
+contracting the latissimus dorsi--the muscles of the broad of the back
+by the shoulder blades--and thereby expanding the shoulders, forcing
+the hands apart, but still in direct line with the bull's-eye. And
+after the arrow has left the bow, _hold the pose!_ Carry through!
+Imagine yourself as a statue of an archer, and stay just in that
+position until you hear the arrow strike.
+
+Just in the beginning, at forty yards, with thirty arrows, you may be
+satisfied if you hit the target between sixteen and twenty-one times
+out of the thirty shots and make a score of from sixty to eighty
+points. Your ambition will be, as in golf, to "break" a hundred. By the
+time you have done that your muscles will be in shape and you can begin
+on the American Round. At first you will probably make a total of about
+two hundred for the three distances. Progress will show in your
+averages. They will creep up a few points at a time. It will be a proud
+day when you "break" three hundred. Eventually you will shoot
+consistently in the four hundreds; and that is about as far as you will
+go unless you devote yourself to the target game, and confine yourself
+to its lighter tackle and the super refinements of its delicate
+technique.
+
+The bow you will finally use for practice at the target will not be a
+hunting bow. It will be longer and more whip-ended and not so sturdy.
+But if you are to get the best results for the hunting field, I believe
+it should approximate in weight the hunting weapon. It should not be
+quite as heavy, for one shoots it more continuously. The one I use
+weighs sixty pounds. With a lighter bow one would probably make a
+somewhat better score; but that is a different game. Do not get the
+idea, however, that mere weight is the whole thing. Nothing is worse
+than to be over-bowed; and many a deer has been slain with a fifty or
+fifty-five pound weapon. Only, there is a weight that is adapted to you
+at your best; that "holds you together"; that keeps you on the mark;
+that calls your concentration; and that is like to be on the heavier
+rather than the lighter side as judged by beginner's experience.
+
+In conclusion, let me urge you eventually to make your own tackle.
+Personally, I am not dexterous when it comes to matters of finer
+handicraft; and when I became interested in this game I made up my mind
+that the construction of a bow or the building of a decent arrow was
+outside my line, and that I would not attempt it. After a while Pope
+persuaded me I ought to try arrows, at least. Under protest I attempted
+the job. The Doctor says it takes about an hour to make a good arrow. I
+can add that it takes about four hours to make a bad one. Still, when
+completed it did look surprisingly like an arrow, and it flew point
+first. Pope looked it all over and handed it back with the single
+comment that I certainly had got the shaft straight. But that arrow was
+very valuable. It proved to me that I could at least follow out the
+process and produce _some_ result. It also convinced me that Ashan
+Vitu--who was a heathen god of archers--possessed a magic that could
+make one drop of glue on the shaft become at least one quart on the
+fingers; and that turkeys are obsessed with small contrary devils who
+pass at the bird's death into the first six feathers of its wings and
+there lurk to the confusion of amateur archers. But I wanted to make
+another arrow; and I did; and it was a better arrow and took less time.
+I have that first arrow yet. It is a good idea to number the output;
+and to preserve a sample out of every three dozen or so, just to show
+not only your progress but also the advance of your ideas as to what
+constitutes a good arrow. And some you will probably find valuable for
+especial emergencies. Number Three of my own product is just such a
+one. It starts straight enough for the point at which it was aimed.
+When about thirty yards out it begins to entertain its first distrust
+of its master, and to proceed according to its own ideas. It makes up
+its mind that it has been held too high, and immediately goes into a
+nose dive to rectify the fault. Instantly it realizes that it has
+overdone the matter, and makes a desperate effort to straighten back on
+its course. A partial success darts it to the right. Number Three
+becomes ashamed and flustered. Its course from there on is a series of
+erratic dives and swoops. I should be very sorry to lose Number Three,
+for I am quite confident that I could never make another such. When my
+most painstaking shooting has resulted in a series of misses, I launch
+Number Three. There is no particular good in aiming it, though it can
+be done if found amusing. But it is surprising how often it will at the
+last moment pull off one of its erratic swoops--right into the mark!
+As a compensating device for rotten shooting it is unexcelled. It is a
+pity to laugh at it as much as we do; for I am convinced it is a
+conscientious arrow doing its best under natural handicap; like a prima
+donna with a cleft palate, for instance.
+
+In a manner not dissimilar to my beginning of the fletching art, I took
+up bow making. It can be done. The only thing is to go at it without
+any particular hope. Then you will be surprised and pleased that you
+have achieved any result at all, and will at once see where you could
+do better again. To make a very fine bow is a real art and requires
+much experience and many trials. But to make a serviceable bow that
+will shoot and will hold up for a time is not very difficult. And it is
+great fun! The first occasion on which you go afield with bow,
+bowstring, arrow, quiver, bracer, and finger tips all of your own
+composition, and loose the shaft and the thing not only flies well but
+straight and far, you will taste a wonder and a satisfaction new to
+your experience. It will probably take you some time to convince
+yourself that somehow the whole outfit is not a base imitation.
+
+From that moment you are a true archer, and you will actually look with
+tolerance on anything so stiff and metallic and mechanical as a gun.
+Your wife will accustom herself to shavings and scraps of feathers on
+the rugs. Inspirations will come to you anent better methods, which you
+will urge enthusiastically on the old timers; and the old timers will
+smile upon you sweetly and sadly. They had those same inspirations
+themselves in their green and salad days. Then no longer will you need
+a Chapter of Encouragement. [1]
+[Footnote 1: Stewart Edward White, the author and big game hunter, has
+so entered into the spirit of archery, that he has become an expert
+shot with the bow after a year's practice. The use of fire-arms no
+longer appeals to him because it is a foregone conclusion just what
+will happen when he aims at an animal. He was considered by Col.
+Roosevelt to be the best shot that ever entered the African game field
+with a gun.
+
+In the use of the bow he has revived his interest in hunting, and
+admits that it is a more sporting proposition. At this present writing
+Stewart Edward White, Arthur Young, and I, are on our way to Tanganyika
+Colony, Africa, to carry the legends of the English long bow into the
+tropics. What is written on the scroll of Fate is not visible; but with
+a sturdy bow, a true shaft, and a stout heart, we journey forth in
+search of adventure.
+
+S. P.]
+
+
+
+
+THE UPSHOT
+
+In ancient times when archery was practiced in open fields and shooting
+at butts or clouts, men walked between their distances much as golfers
+do today, and having completed their course, it was often customary to
+shoot a return round over the same field. This was called the upshot,
+and has descended into common parlance, just as many other phrases have
+which had their origin in the use of the bow and arrow.
+
+So we have come to the end of our story and prepare to say good-bye.
+
+Although we have said much, and probably too much of ourselves, we have
+not spoken the last word in archery. There are a few things that we
+have learned of the art; others know more. And though we would praise
+our pastime beyond measure, protesting that it is healthful, admirable
+and full of romance, yet we cannot claim that it accomplishes all
+things and is the only sport a man should pursue.
+
+Its devotees will find ample room for differences of opinion. The shape
+of a feather and the contour of a bow have been subjects for argument
+since time immemorial. Nor is our art suited to all men. Few indeed
+seem fitted for archery or care for it. But that rare soul who finds in
+its appeal something that satisfies his desire for fair play, historic
+sentiment, and the call of the open world, will be happy.
+
+People will scoff at him for his "medieval crotchet," will think of him
+as the Don Quixote of Sherwood Forest, but in their hearts they will
+have a wistful envy of him; for all men feel the nobility and honorable
+past of our sport. It carries with it dim memory pictures of spring
+days, the green woods and the joy of youth.
+
+It is also futile to prophesy the future of the bow and arrow. As an
+implement of the chase, to us it seems to hold a place unique for
+fairness. And in the further development of the wild game problem,
+where apparently large game preserves and refuges will be the order of
+the day, the bow is a more fitting weapon with which to slay a beast
+than a gun or any more powerful agent that may be invented.
+
+Of course, there are those who say that all hunting should cease, and
+that photography and nature study alone should be directed toward wild
+life. That sweet day may come, but at least no man can consistently
+decry hunting who eats meat, wears furs or leather, or uses any vestige
+of animal tissue; for he is party to the crime of animal murder, and
+murder more brutal and ignoble than that of the chase.
+
+And those who think the bullet is more certain and humane than the
+arrow have no accurate knowledge on which to base their comparison. Our
+experience has proved the contrary to be the case.
+
+Yet these are not the reasons why we shoot the bow: we do it because we
+love it, and this is no reason; it is an emotion difficult to explain.
+
+Nor should I close this chapter without reference to that noble company
+of archers, the members of the National Archery Association--men and
+women who can shoot as pretty a shaft as any who ever drew a bowstring.
+The names of Will Thompson, Louis Maxson, George P. Bryant, Harry
+Richardson, Dr. Robert P. Elmer, Homer Taylor, Mrs. Howell, and Cynthia
+Wesson are emblazoned on the annals of archery history for all time. To
+them and the many other worthy bowmen who have fostered the art in
+America, we are eternally grateful. The self-imposed discipline of
+target shooting is much harder work than the carefree effort of
+hunting. The rewards, however, are less spectacular.
+
+To you who would follow us into the land of Robin Hood, let me say that
+what you need most is a great longing to come, and perseverance; for if
+I should try to explain how we have accomplished even that little we
+have in hunting, I would protest that it is because we have held to an
+idea and been persistent. In my own mind the credit is ascribed to the
+fact that I have surrounded myself with good companions and tried again
+and again in spite of failure.
+
+All that we have done is perfectly possible to any adventurous youth,
+no matter what his age.
+
+Nor is that which is written here the finis, for even as I scribble we
+are on our journey to another hunt, and bowmen seem ever to be
+increasing in numbers.
+
+May the gods grant us all space to carry a sturdy bow and wander
+through the forest glades to seek the bounding deer; to lie in the deep
+meadow grasses; to watch the flight of birds; to smell the fragrance of
+burning leaves; to cast an upward glance at the unobserved beauty of
+the moon. May they give us strength to draw the string to the cheek,
+the arrow to the barb and loose the flying shaft, so long as life may
+last.
+
+Farewell and shoot well!
+
+[Illustration: (Signature of) Saxton Pope]
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Hunting with the Bow and Arrow, by Saxton Pope
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