The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-07-10

usually not far away. Amid such va
riety as this the sportsman cannot fai
to find plenty Of employment for his gur
If only he possesses the nee essary knowl
edge and skill at woodcraft to enable
him to properly search out and approach
| his game.
| The climate of Alaska is not nearly a
harsh and severe as many imagine 1T tc
be. In the vicinity of the coast warm
| winds fro mthe Pacific ocean temper
| the atmosphere, and even far inland
although the thermometer sometimes
falls as low as sixty and more degrees
below zero, yet these cold snaps are soon
over and are not abnormally frequent
With the exception of the vicinity OF the
coast the snawfall reaches depth nc
greater than that of Maine or Nova
Scotia, and the winters, though some
what longer, are still quite similar to
the "old-fashioned' winters of northern
New England. Though the first snow
fall occurs about the middle of Septem-
Der, yet winter does not set in in earn
est before November land, after all, Win
ter is about the same thing the world
over. The writer has seen the snow 1lf-
teen feet deep in places in his New Eng
land home, and if Alaskan drifts add a
few feet more to their depth the casual
observer would be unable to detect the
difference. Many man has spent the
entire winter in Alaska in shelter-tenb
and come out none the worse for the
experience. But with the visiting sports
man, planning to stay throughout the
winter, there is no need of undergoing
such self-imposed hardships, as timber
is plenty and a good serviceable log
house can be kept as warm and COM
Portable as a New England homestead,
in spite of the whistling winds without.
The country is all so comparatively
new and undeveloped that one does not
need to undertake long and Wearisome
journey far from the most isolated trad
ing post to get into region promising
any fair prospect of sport, for COM
paratively short jaunt from almost any
of the settlements brings one into the
heart of good game country. Returning
miners say that they have no difficulty
in keeping themselves in meat If adept
in the use of the rifle, and unanimously
agree that the whole region is stocked
with, for the present, a well nigh limit
less supply Of a large variety of game,
such as the huntsman will search for in
vain anywhere else.
Many a wielder of the gun has laid
his much-loved fowling piece away in
its cover, disguised with his poor luck
and the almost total absence of game
from the vicinities in which he has been
accustomed to seek it, and resolved that
never again would he bring it forth
from its resting place. Many another
who realizes that there might be an un-
rivaled pleasure and charm to be deriv-
ed from woodcraft and the art of hunt
ing has never once attempted 1t, belieV-
ing that while game was once plentiful
enough for such recreation in the days
Of our fathers, yet that it has long ago
been eXterminated altogether and among
the heritages handed down to us from
past generations is the empty game bag
never again to assume its former pro-
portions. If such would but turn their
attention to Alaska and investigate for
themselves its advantages as hunting
ground its actual conditions as they ex-
st to-day without color or exaggeratlon, !
t is the opinion of the writer that they
would there find good cause for reviv- !
ng their tagging hopes,--Field and |
Stream.