The Windham County reformer. (Battleboro, Vt.) 1876-1897, 1880-03-26

CatlOn Wnere tne Tancne is tne otn Ol
September, and Mr.. Stoddard left the 4th
of October and in that time the timber
had been hauled 10 miles from the foot
hills, partly with two pairs of oxen be-
longing to the outfit, and partly with
hired teams from Fort Mckinney. The
house was built and finished, the horse
corral built complete, the horse barn
neatly finished, the COW corral begun,
$40 acres OF land surveyed, the under
Signed being surveyor, and all other
necessary work for starting a cattle rancho
completed. All this with working force
of six to eight men, and the only tools
| being two axes, one saw, one hammer,
two shovels and a crowbar. Only three
men were left on the rancho for the win
ter, two Texans and one New Yorker,
and one of the Texans, who is The fore
man, will soon leave the rancho to go
with Mr.. Stoddard to Texas to buy $500
to 5000 more cattle to drive to the rancho
the coming spring. The country is the
sportsmans aradise. Game exists in
the greatest abundance, and any one liv
ing there can have it constantly for his
table, if he can shoot tolerably we'll. We
used frequently to see 81 or so antelopes
in day, and they often stood on the
bluffs just out of rifle range and watched |
lis at our work. Black tail and white
tail deer are very, plenty, but their habit
of first giving notice of their presence by
jumping about 27 feet at the first start, |
and then increasing the distance, is very |
disconcerting to the nerves of "tender
foot" who has been sneaking up the
creek for an hour, picturing in his mind
the ecldt which will attend his return to
camp, his horse laden with noble buck.
knOU for have tried it, and don't
believe the "noble buck" was in any more
danger from the bullet l let loose than
you are at this moment. | can do veiy
well with game that is reasonable, bui the
jumps of startled deer have as yet,
been too much for me. Elk exist in
great numbers, but did not see them,
as they stay in the mountains till cold
weather. Wolves are countless, and in
the mountains are great numbers of bear,
mountain sheep and mountain lions.
Two Englshmen with their wives and
the younger Frewen went on a hunting
trip into the mountains just west of the
rancho where we were. In the first IL
days out they killed 81 bears and other
game in abundance. The younger
Frewen told us AS we came down in the
going into camp one afternoon, when on
the hunting trip referred to, he took his
express rife, which throws an explo-
sive shell, propelled by l20 grains of
powder, and walked about mile from
camp looking for game, when he sud-
lenlv came in sight of three bears of the
brown species, near each other These
bears are very ugly customers, and FIRE.
wen said his first thought was to 60 back
% camp and say he had not met any
game, but his hunters pluck wouldn't
ct him do that, and so he crawled close
% tree. This species of bear does not
limb. Just as he reached the tree one
If the bears sighted him, and stood
rect on his launches, looking to stand
even feet high, and showinga fiir mark, q
rhen Frew en- fired, the explosive shell n
making an awful wound and killing the .
ear instantly. The second bear started II
)r the hunter, but shot in the shoulder >
isabed him, while the rifle was loaded II
gain in season to stop the third brute,
hich was making off, and our hunter il
alked into camp after an absence cf "
,ss than two hours, and announced to "
le astonished party that he had killed II
lree bears and wanted help to secure t.
is booty. In travelling over this coun. y
y one constantly comes across the
'ails of Crooks and Clusters troopers, V
nd the old Indian trails are everywhere r
early defined The remains of the In s.
ian camps are found constantly. The Ii
oles upon which they spread the skins a
, make their tents, oS tepees, are still v
licking in the ground, and the bones of Y
uffalo and deer lying around indicate
he food 30" fed upon. Buffalo still f
ome here in considerable numbers in =
ne winter, and several were killed in =
nat vicinity while we were there. H.