The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1908-11-06
TROTWOOD TELLS
OF WESTERN LIFE
POET LAUREATE OF TENNESSEE
IN MOUNTAIN WILDS or
COLORADO.

a1AA 4 AhAAbDA +hAA0ANr PVT AaAA NeLAN
e Of Tennessee. is having the time OF
: his life out in the mountains Of Colo
: RADIO. and has gained thirty pounds
since his stay in the West In the
following letter to his friend, Post
master John Jackson. of Columbi4.
he gives an entertaining account OF
his hunting experiences in the noun
tains after deer and bear:
"OT. Ranch,
Fraser. Colo, October 23rd, 1905.
! Dear John:
If l had you here, old man, l
would never leave this country. L
am on this ranch and am now a COW
boy, the freest life in the world for
man with blood in his body. We
are eighty miles from Denver in the
Rockies. Our valley is $500 feet in
altitude and the big mountains are /
all around us, some of them $4,000 .
feet high. We had one big snow on ,
Sept. 26th and several big ones since,
making it belly deep to our ponies
when we took our first big hunt last
Monday in the mountains. Deer, bear
and elk are plentiful, but elk are pro-
tected until 1911. They hunt here
with little fee dogs, just big enough
to follow them and track them and
get them up. They never hunt here
except in a crowd of four or five. for \
if you don't kill grizzly the first shot
he'll get you, if you don't fill him full
of lead. We went after deer Monday
and got big fat buck, also shot a
wolf. I'll send you a picture next a
week, taken Of us by one of our camp e
girls, Mrs. Ferguson, wife of Lonnie Fl
Ferguson, a COW boy. n
"Lonnie and 7 got caught in bliz- +,
zard in Devils Thumb Park, five miles II
rom here, in the mountains Monday, h
md | thought I'd never get out. l II
bought of that old goose hunt the ot
light that you and l packed that fl,
lunch of geese, lap robes, paddles and
IhCl lOul W MOO- fiji
ey's in the snow. The ponies couldn't III
o up the foot hills to the deer in the th
and we had to climb them "a
snow, oIten waist deep STOP of
ed in what l thought was level snow do
nd went down into the top of pine Iif
zee. l thought of the twins and ma
I nrd 1ifn inc
lahked the Loru my ne was insured no
he COW boys hauled me out and after do
lat We simply had to coon 1t to keep
If feet from leading our heads into -
tree top. At the top in a valley we y
w nineteen elk. 1t was the most
rilling sight l ever saw, but we
uld not shoot as they are protect
by law until 1911, and the penalty
r killing one now is $500. If it were CIV
penitentiary fine, I'd have risked [
I'd have spent a year in the pen
have shot one of the big bulls, but
couldn't stand that $500. One bunch A
deer, six head, smelt us and went the
wn ON the other side belly deep in to
JW' VIC COuluh OOC MY AOOI KIM
cad of of us for the binding snow, min
/ crawled down under a rock while ken
COW boys went on their trail. was
ey got away, but the next day, they rail-
ne right over near the ranch, where prof
snow was eight to twelve inches son.
p, and we started afoot on their was
IL we tralled tnem nine miles was
r hills and valleys before got my prof
t buck Also killed a grey wolf.
send you the pictures to prove
emit lied as usual. We are fixing ~
big bear hunt next week. I am
lg, but am finding out which one
he ponies can take the back trail
the ranch and get there ahead of
Fly That's the one I'll ride.
70 shot gun goes in this country,
laugh at them. I shoot a Win
,ter, 5000 soft nosed bullet, the
{ destructive bullet l ever saw
lakes little hole where it enters, IL III
spreads and where 1t comes out Nv
axes hole as big as your head. rectet
it is all that will stop charging at c.
l find mountain grouse every Iern'
re-a beautiful bird about as me r.
} as our common hen with white of st,
:, and tasting like our quail. l So
nm an severol eoo1,s o,uovs sell t
-. ing TT
10 lihoer me- ll'ooo lee'' "nele trict
eat wild raspberries, They are Know
Ime, they light in the fir trees compr
it is fun to shoot their heads off Tess,
a winchester. They are nice west ,
IS and sit until you kill the last rights
Il them, If you only shoot the low the pl
,ird and keep shooting up. Two "a ?; ~
EN- in my hunting coat was all which
lid pack back on my pony. levied
become fairly good with the rife, Said
,arv oster 7 ronl, with tho Arst bidder