The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-09-15
HOW He SECURED BAIT
Drove Grasshoppers on to a Piece
of Fly Paper.
AN OLD INDIAN DEVICE
Western Montana Indians on Their Usual
Slaughter of Game-MissoulaH Hun
ters Will Soon Be After
the Deer.

Missoula, Sept IA we'll known
| from a trip through the Bitter Root
| describes new method that the ma
| tives have up there for catching grass
| hoppers for bait. He was fishing with
| flies and a lad who lives In the valley
was near him using hoppers. The boy
would not believe that the flies were
| good for anything and his success with
the 'hoppers was good reason for his
faith in his own style of bait. In the
discussion that followed regarding the
relative merits of flies and hoppers
the fisherman advanced the argument
that the difficulty in procuring the
grasshoppers was against them as a
desirable form of allurement for the
trout. The boy ,scoffed at the idea
that it was hard work to catch them,
and proceeded to show how he caught
them. He took a couple of sheets Of
common sticky fly paper that he got at
home and spread them in convenient
place on the ground. Then he started
to beat up his grasshoppers and to
drive them toward the paper Fully
half of the 'hoppers alighted upon the
sticky surface of the paper, and were
held there. BY the time he had worked
WINGED and had nothing more to say
in this respect. These applications of
practical science to everyday affairs
are what is making this century and
this country greater.
Judge Woody heard the story that
the fisherman told. and said that years
ago on the Pacific coast he had seen the
Digger Indians use what was practi-
cally the same method Of catching grass
hoppers. At that time the Indians used
the 'hoppers for food. They killed and
dried them and then ground them into
a sort of meal. The way that they
made their catch was to dig a le@p pit
in an open grassy place, and then pui.d
fires in the grass on all four sides f
the pit. As the fire closed in ward
the pit the 'hoppers fled before it, and
most OF them landed in the deep hole.
where they were beaten to death. Judge
Woody says that this was always their
method of catching this insect. witch
they priced highly as an article OF
food 1t was a process thai was watch
ed with interest by all who saw II fer
the first time, and it goes to show that
the methods of the Bitter Root boy
were not as new as had been thought.
While the Western Montana Indians
do not eat grasshoppers, they are none
the less eager in securing their win
ter supply of food. The elk and deer
are getting scarcer than they used to
be. but the Indians nearly all have their
autumn hunts as they used to in the
old days. This year the number of
that has passed through Missoula has
been unusually large. Most of them
have gone up the Bitter Root valley,
headed for the West Fork country or
else across the Bitter Root range into
Idaho. These hunting parties that the
Indians send out each year are the
greatest menace to the game of this
section that there is. They kill ruth
lessly and without regard to what they
really want. 1t is a case of slaughter
with them, and they do not stop STAY
ing till there are no more animals to
slay. Some of the forest rangers on
the reservations have succeeded in pre-
venting a large amount of this slaugh-
ter Of game, but there is still too much
of it going on.
Missoula hunters have not done much
deer hunting yet. They have been busy
with ducks and chickens and have had
good sport in this line, but in a short
time they will be after the deer. An
drew Beckwith and Louis Lyon report
a good prospect for deer hunting in
the Rock creek country before long
and they are planning to have little
Of 1t themselves. From all parts OF
the ranges west of Missoula come re-
ports about the abundance of deer that
are to be seen, and hunters should
find in this fact some compensation
for the comparative scarcity of birds
that has existed this season.
The fishing continues good, and will
probably be later this year than it has
been for some time. 1t was so late
in starting this year that the fish
ermen have not wearied of the sport,
and large catches continue to be made.
The big catch that was made by L. n.
Simons and ]. j. McAllister last week
attracted much attention. This catch
was one of the largest and best of river
trout that has ever been seen here.
Ray McAllister caught three river trout
that weighed, together, nine pounds.
That is good fishing.