The boys' book of hunting and fishing

Front matter

v

THE BOYS' BOOK OF HUNTING AND FISHING

THE BOYS' BOOK OF

Author's Preface

"The Boys' Book of Hunting and Fishing" was written because there seems to be no book now in print which will tell the youth of twelve to eighteen years age how to start right in learning these fine arts of the outdoors, and how to get tackle and equipment which will not be out of reach of a young fellow's pocketbook, yet will be just the right thing for the beginner, honestly made, not having perhaps the wearing qualities of more expensive outfits, but efficient and capable for the purpose — which most cheap goods are not, from the very start !

The boy's books of the woodcraft type do not fulfil this requirement, for they stop just where the growing boy wants information ; they tell him all about woodcraft and nothing about the right tackle to get and how to use it for trout and bass ; nothing on how to learn to be a good wing shot and what guns and gauges to start in with ; and little on how to camp out for weeks at a time with a light yet comfortable outfit, and one that will not make them liable to cold from exposure, or sick-

ix x AUTHOR'S PREFACE

ness from improper food. The men's books on camping, fishing and wing shooting cover these subjects thoroughly, but they suggest outfits that are altogether out of the financial means of any but rich boys, and no fellow has a right to ask his father for equipment that costs far more than the presents that his brothers and sisters get, and that father himself, perhaps, can hardly afford to purchase. Yet there is good cheap equipment, — good enough for any beginner, man or boy, — on the market, but you must know what to look for to seek it out.

Again, most boys like to make their own outfits from the raw material, as being cheaper and adding zest to the game, particularly in camping outfits. The author has camped, fished and hunted since a boy of ten, and, having been so poor that nearly all his own outfits of that date had to be made by himself, has borne this well in mind in penning the chapters of this book.

It will be noted that the chapters on hunting are almost exclusively wing shooting, only one chapter on the rifle being included. My reason for this is that the shotgun is not only the most suitable weapon for boys, as being safer and more capable of getting game within a boy's reach, but proficiency in the use of the shotgun is the best possible

AUTHOR'S PREFACE xi

training for skill in the use of the rifle in shooting big game. Military shooting, as it is now practised, is based on an entirely different set of conditions than big game shooting. The latter is practically wing shooting with the rifle, where a quick, accurate sight at bounding big game, going at full speed, must be taken and a hit scored. It has been the author's experience that boys under the age of eighteen have not the development and endurance needful for the hunting of big game, while, on the other hand, they can become quite as skilful as the men in upland and marsh bird shooting. The rifle, however, that boys can become intimately familiar with and masters of, is the .22 and its near relatives and cousins — rifles of comparatively low power but extreme accuracy. Such game as woodchuck, fox, rabbit, squirrel, etc., is fair game for the boy with his rifle, and skill in its use should be attained between the ages of twelve and sixteen years.

Again let me reiterate that this book is written with the poor boy in mind. There is a tremendous amount of shoddy outdoor goods on the market, and the average salesman unloads it on the innocent and confiding boy, who trusts him implicitly and parts with his hard-earned pennies for tackle and equipment that is entirely unsuitable xii AUTHORS PREFACE

for real game fish or real camping or wing shooting. While it has not been possible to name brands of rod, reel, line and lure as good yet cheap, I have given specifications which are met by goods now offered for sale at a low price by reliable houses, and it is up to the boys themselves to ferret out the goods. Knowing just what you want, and about what you ought to pay, it ought not to be hard to select outfits that will start you right. The rest is practice — and enjoyable practice, too — the only school of which you will never tire, if you live to be ninety years young !

Interlaken, N. J., April, 1916.

CONTENTS PART ONE: ANGLING FOR BOYS

CHAPTER PAGE

I Battling Bass and Wily Trout .... 21 II The Tackle to Get and How to Use It —

Black Bass 30

III The Tackle to Get and How to Use It —

Fly Casting fob Trout 41

IV Kinks on Catching Game Fish .... 49

PART TWO: SHOOTING FOR BOYS I First Lessons with the Hand Trap . . 59

III The "Ping Pong" Trap ...... 77

IV Practice with the Standard Trap ... 85 V The Swift and Spiteful Twenty Gauge . 92

VI The First Day at the Gun Club ... 103

VII A Day in the Uplands ...... 114

VIII Shore Bird Shooting . 127

IX Duck Shooting — Anticipation .... 148

X Duck Shooting — Realization .... 155

XI A Chapter on the Rifle 162

xiii xiv CONTENTS

Part Three: Camping For Boys Chapter Page

I Boy Camps of Long Ago ...... 185

II Hiking _. . 196

III The Hunting and Fishing Camp . . . 204

IV Camp Cookery 216

V All About the Different Tents . . . 229

VII Woodsmanship 254

VIII Living off the Forest . . . . . . 269

IX Permanent Camps ...„-, t . t .. . . 280

LIST OF ILLTTSTKATIONS

PAGE

Warren H. Miller, Editor Field and Stream . . ix

Chums . ± . 24

An Eight-Pound Large Mouth Bass ...... 24

A Typical Mountain Brook Trout Stream . . . 28

Bully Good Bass Water .... ... ... ... . 32 l

Casting from Shore . . ^ _ A . . . A A . 32 *

Bait Casting Kods . ... .. A . . A . . _. 34

Bait Casting Reels . . A A A .- . A ... . 34

Landing a Pike on the Fly Rod .. . . ... .. .. 36

Fly Fishing for Bass . . . . .. , M . . 36

Eastern and Western Brook Trout . > ... 46

Deep Water Trout Fishing . . -. . . > . 50

A Boy Muskallonge Fisherman . . . . . . 52

A Six-Pound Pike . • . . . . .... 52

Some Prizes for the Bait Casting Outfit .... 54

The Hand Trap and Single-Barreled Shot Gun . 60

The Proper Straight Stock . >. A ... A A L .. 72 A Comparison in Gun Sizes . . . . . . .72^

Breaking Them 88

First Lessons in Wing Shooting 94 v "

XV xvi ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

A Boy's Gun Club at Practice 106

Pepper and the Kid Starting for a Rabbit Hunt . 116 Our Beagles and Some Rabbits . ... . .. A 116

A Setter, Pointing a Bevy of guail . .. . ... . 116

Snipe Decoys Set Out ........ . # . 132

The Kid and Some of His Plover ...... 132

An Alligator Hunt 132

Making Good at Trapshooting 150

Broadbill Decoys Anchored Off a Point .... 158

A Mallard Hide in the Wild Rice 158

Throwing Out the Decoys 158

The Most Popular Big-Game, the White-Tailed Deer 164

Some Fine Wyoming Elk 170

The Author and His Cowboy Chum in Camp in Montana . . . 170

Bringing Out Your Moose Head . A A ... ... . 170

The Pendulum Deer Target A ... .. A . ± .. 174

Some .22 Repeating Rifles . ... . ... . .. . 176

The King of American Predatory Game ...... 180

The Old-Fashioned Heavy Wall Tent, with

Fly 190

The Author's Tent Home-Made When He Was a

Boy of Twelve Years 190

The Dan Beard Tent 198

The Forester Tent 198

A Camping Outfit for Boys ....... 208

ILLUSTRATIONS xvii

PAGE

The Author's Perfect Shelter Tent 214

Off for a Week's Camp 214

The Boy Scout Cook Kit 222 "

The Stopple Cook Kit 222

The Forester Cook Kit 222

An Encampment of the Camp Fire Club . . . 234

In Camp in a Forester Tent 234

The Western Miner's Tent 234

The Indian Fire . 246

The Nessmuk Backlog Fire 246 ^

The Indian Teepee 274

A Primitive Cook Kit 275

PAET ONE: ANGLING FOR BOYS

THE BOYS' BOOK OF HUNTING AND FISHING

Part One: Angling For Boys Chapter I

Two boys went fishing in a mountain lake, located — well, anywhere from Maine west to Wisconsin and south to Virginia and Kentucky — take your choice ! It was a lake with lily pads and tree stumps along its shores, and there were woods along the banks to camp in, with maybe a circle of forested hills surrounding it. One boy had his boat anchored out near a little rocky islet, and was still-fishing in eight feet of water with a worm, a dobber and a cane pole for big sunnies and perch. The other had a canoe and was paddling slowly along the shores, just outside the lily pads, and casting his lure at likely looking places where game fish might lurk. He possessed a wonderful accuracy with that rod and lure, and at nearly every cast sent it true to the chosen spot, maybe forty, fifty or sixty feet away, to some small bay in the lily pads or quiet pool in front of a stump sometimes no bigger than a straw hat.

Presently the boy in the boat got a bite. A decided jiggle dipped his float and then it went under completely. He gave the pole a yank, and in a few seconds brought up a large orange-bellied sunfish weighing maybe half a pound, which came flopping over the side and was soon seized and strung with a lot of others on a fish line dangling over the side. The boy in the canoe went on casting. His lure sailed out and landed — ker chunk! right into the lair of a foxy old black bass. The boy started reeling it back when suddenly there was a furious splash, the water boiled around the lure and instinctively the boy struck. Instantly the old demon leapt clear out of water, shaking his head in a frantic effort to throw the lure ; the boy gasped with excitement, but in the rush that followed his fingers were barked by the spinning reel handle and the bass would have gotten away except for the boy's ready left thumb which was braking hard on the reel spool. Then the bass turned and rushed towards the boat, while the boy grabbed the reel handle and reeled in line furiously, for to give that fish a single foot of slack meant to lose him. Under he went, straight under the canoe, but again the boy was master, for, giv-

"HIS LUCK

Taken on an inexpensive fly fishing- outfit.

is on wrong- end of butt for good balance.

Note, however, that reel

BASS AND TROUT FISHING 23

ing him line as he thumbed the reel, the boy dexterously turned the canoe with his paddle, bringing the bass beyond the boat again and going strong, evidently bound for some hidden snag that he knew of where the line could be tangled up and broken. This would never do, so setting back hard on the rod the boy opposed its full strength to the bass' tactics and soon turned him. This time he came up to the surface with a magnificent splash and the boy's heart pounded wildly as he dipped the rod tip and pulled him down again.

" Jingo! another like that and he's off! Go it, you beauty ! ' ' he exclaimed exultingly. Again the bass started for the canoe, this time near the surface, the boy reeling like mad, and, taking advantage of the fish's momentum, he gave the rod a flip and the next instant the big bronze and green fellow was thrashing wildly about in the bottom of the canoe while the boy grabbed him in both hands. "Gee! He'll go three pounds! Some battle! Eh, what!" he whooped, holding him up by the gills. He despatched the bass mercifully with his hunting knife, tied him through the gills to the canoe cross bar and resumed his casting.

Now, which of those boys would you rather be, the one indolently watching a float and now and then pulling up a half-pound sunfish or perch, or this one who had learned the angler's art of bait casting and has been rewarded by a thrilling battle with a big game fish. You can become either. Age has got nothing to do with it for the boy that had the battle with the bass was ten years old. I know him well; in fact, he is my own son. The other boy was thirteen but the lily pads meant nothing to him — that kind of fishing he thought was for men, he was going after sunnies and perch, even in the very lake where he knew bass and pike and pickerel were to be caught — IF one knows how!

Pocket book has little to do with it. The rod, reel and line used by the boy who caught the bass cost, all together, under three dollars ; he got the reel for his Christmas present (it cost Santa Claus about two dollars) ; the rod came with a subscription to a certain sportsman's magazine (it has landed a 21-pound muscallonge), and the line was the only thing he had to save up his allowances for. It cost 75 cents for 50 yards of it. Surely anything that will put you in the way of having all that sport is worth saving up for to buy the necessary tackle.

After getting the equipment the boy had to put in many an hour learning, first how to cast with-

BASS AND TROUT FISHING 25

out back lashing or snarling up the line with the reel, and second, how to get sureness and accuracy so as to land the lure on any spot desired even if as much as eighty feet away. And learning this is good fun for any boy, as much fun as shooting a rifle, for every cast is target practice of a high order, and to learn the game you have to get into a boat and row along casting as you go, at first with a discouraging period of dubbism and finally "arriving" at a reasonable proficiency, after which perfecting yourself in the art is a rare pleasure.

In a word, the difference between the boy catching sunnies and the one bait casting for bass is that one is just a fisherman and gets relatively little fun out of it, while the other is a sportsman ; he has acquired a fine and difficult art and he gets the thrill and excitement of many tussles with real game fish. Too difficult for a boy? Pshaw! Give him a chance and the proper rig and he will do as well as the men; look at the boys of seven to fifteen, and girls even, who win prizes with big game fish in the Juvenile Classes of the Field and Stream Prize Fishing Contest, held every year during the whole open season for bass, trout, muscallonge and pickerel.

It's up to you; bait casting and fly casting are no more difficult to learn than good baseball, tennis, sailing, football — any of the outdoor sports which boys take to as a matter of course, as soon as they get out of tops and marbles. It is the object of these chapters to tell you what to get and what to avoid, how to learn to use rod and line, and what tactics have to be used in hooking and landing the bulldog bass, the gamey trout, the wolfish pike and that tiger of the inland lakes, the muscallonge. When twelve-years-old Jack White, the boy who goes fishing with Will Dilg, one of America's greatest bass fishermen, landed a twelvepound musky alone and unaided, he certainly showed that none of our game fish are beyond the reach of any boy's angling ability, provided that he keeps a cool head and plays the game according to the rules.

Let us move the scene a little further north, into the home of the trout, though bass and trout waters do overlap to a certain extent. The family goes to the mountains for the summer and you, the boy, are with them — you bet! There are walks to take and waterfalls to see and there is lots of tennis, with maybe some baseball. But you get tired of batting a ball over a net — a sort of hard work that gets nowhere — and you long for some real sport. Aha ! a trout stream in the vi-

BASS AND TROUT FISHING 27

cinity, three miles away between Hawk Mountain and Old Baldy ! Do you cut an alder pole, dig up some worms, buy five cents' worth of line and a hook and go after them? No — by ginger, no! You have a 5-ounce fly casting rod, thirty yards of E line, a single click reel, some leaders and a few flies, say those old reliables — Parmacheene Belle, Coachman, Cow Dung, and Silver Doctor, and you put up a lunch and hike for that stream just as early as you can bolt a breakfast. Arrived there you know very well that that old worm and pin hook dodge won't work; these trout know far too much to go hang themselves on the first halter let down to them with a worm on it! Eather you keep out of sight and fish each pool upstream, because you know that the trout lie with their heads upstream and cannot see back of them for a space covering an angle of about 30 degrees each way from their dorsal fin. You joint up the rod, put on the reel and string the line through the guides. Next the leader, already wetted and pliant, is tied on and finally a fly, fished dry or wet according to the water. You choose a fly resembling as nearly as possible the insects hovering over the stream, and then you are ready to cast. Look for a clear back cast, making sure that no overhanging boughs are going to snare your fly, and then start getting out line. Each i ' false ' ' cast, that is, a cast in which the fly is not allowed to drop in the pool, gets the fly out further and further as you strip line from the reel. Now you begin working the cast over some chosen spot — there's one alongside that big boulder, up near the head of the pool; there'll surely be a big one in there for they always usurp the best places so as to get the first of everything coming down from the ripples above. Now your fly is hovering right over him. You let it fall and it hits the side of the rock and tumbles onto the swift, dark water. Instantly there is a flash in the depths and a pink mouth rushes at the fly. Now is the time to strike — you can't take it away from him if you try — and a second later will be too late. You strike and at the same time he jumps and hooks himself hard. Now, watch out! There's a lot of alder roots hanging down into the water from that east bank and he darts over there to hide and snag your leader. Look out! — keep him off — give him the butt! Glory be, he's coming down the pool! Did you ever see such chain lightning darting about in a clear sheet of water in your life ! Now he 's gone to sulk under the big rock; we'll have to get him out of there and work him down into the shallows. Chuck in a pebble — that's the stuff! now

BASS AND TROUT FISHING 29

we 've got him all over the pool again. Keep cool and strip in your line, holding it against the rod butt with your left forefinger as you go. Now work him into the shallows; now the net — head first — good! we've got him and did you ever see such a pretty trout in your life! He'll go thirteen inches and he's as cold and firm as solid muscle can make him.

Worth catching, eh! Some better than going over to Taylor's Pond after bullheads! Let's work upstream, casting every ripple and keeping a long eye out ahead for the next pool, for a new set of tactics will probably be wanted there.

Such is trout fishing, another fine art; for fly casting is not to be learned in a day ; and also with that same rod and larger flies you can fish the big streams and small rivers in the Eastern and Central States for small mouth black bass who love swift, deep, rocky rivers and rise to the fly as spectacularly as any trout. Boys, it's worth while learning those two games ; bait casting and fly casting, and as far as it can be told you on paper we are going to have a try at it. The rest is with you — given a good rod and reel, I'll bet that you'll fly at the practising part of it with all the zeal that you ever gave to any game — and then for the big game fish !

Chapter II

THE TACKLE TO GET AND HOW. TO USE IT — BLACK BASS

Thebe are two ways of taking the fighting black bass, viz. by bait-casting for him with the short rod and highspeed reel and by fly-casting with the standard fly rod, perhaps a trifle heavier than the usual thing for trout. Of the two, bait-casting is undoubtedly the more spectacular, harder to learn, and harder to land your fish when hooked. In principle bait-casting reverts to that old game that all country boys play of hurling an apple from the end of a pointed stick. You jab the stick through your apple, take aim at the opposing boy and soak him with it, and the speed and accuracy with which that apple goes far exceeds anything that can be done with hand throwing. Many is the battle royal that we boys had in the old orchard using the sling stick, and many the hard sting from the bullet-like little green apples ! In the bait-casting outfit you have a short rod 5 feet 6 inches long, a highspeed multiplying reel, a fine braided silk line of about 12 pounds breaking strength, and a lure which may be a live frog, a pork minnow and spinner, or one of the numerous artificial lures. With this outfit you can cast that lure up to about 125 feet, and cast it with the greatest accuracy at the usual fishing distances of about 40 feet. An expert can pick up any one of a dozen floating objects at will with the hooks on his lure.

Black bass lie in wait for their prey under the lily pads along their outer edges, under the roots of old stumps, under floats and docks, and in lairs under overhanging bushes; and woe betide any luckless minnow or frog which ventures out across their lurking places, There is a splash and a whirl and f roggie or minnow is grabbed and bolted whole before he hardly realises what has happened to him. The game is to work your boat slowly along about 50 feet outside the lily pads and cast every likely spot where a bass is apt to lie in wait. If artfully done, your lure so resembles a minnow or frog making a voyage of discovery that the bass at once strikes and is completely deceived, to his own undoing. Further than this, the bass is so pugnacious that he is apt to take a crack at almost anything struggling in the water or ploughing along on the surface ; he honestly believes that he is the boss of that whole lake and he will pounce on anything that appears to be making hostile demonstrations. It is this quality that lies at the success of many artificial top water lures looking unlike anything under the sun or the waters beneath. So long as they struggle or throw up a splash they look good to Mr. Bass and he comes at them like a whirlwind.

Getting back to the tackle, the rod used is best made of split bamboo and may cost anywhere from one to ten dollars. It is short and stiff, not too whippy nor too long, about your own height is good, and for ordinary fishing for bass, pickerel and pike — up to about four pounds — the dollar rod will answer very well. Such a rod will be two-piece for convenience in carrying and will have three guides of nickled steel, two on the tip and one on the butt piece. The reel seat is ahead of the grip, not behind it as in trout fishing. The bamboo used in these rods is machine fitted and of fair quality, amply good enough for so short a rod to withstand any strains put on it in fishing. For about three dollars a better mounted rod can be had with agate tip, which prolongs the life of the line considerably since it is the friction of the constant casting of the line through the tip guide which wears both it and the line out. However, for a boy beginning to learn bait-casting I would

BULLY GOOD BASS WATER

All these coves alorg shore deserve a cast from vour lure You Sn, n¥° n fM ■ the canoe, about the distance from shore of the fore" ground of this picture, and land your lure accurately in these coves reeling back immediately your lure touches the water. You may set a strike, any time, up to three feet from the boat

CASTING FROM SHORE

If you have no boat, cast from shore plug and is liable to get now up to a short distance

This boy is using strike any time from where from his feet.

a revolving the lure is not advise a rod costing more than a dollar, at least for the first year or so.

The reel is the most important article in the outfit. Thousands of times during the day's fishing that reel spins at high speed, each time fifteen or twenty yards of line are cast off: it and its gears and journals need to be well made and kept well oiled. Then a big four-pounder gets hold of your lure and yanks unmercifully on the reel and will strip every gear in it if poorly made. About the cheapest bait-casting reel that can be relied upon costs $2 in brass, nickle plated. It should be quadruple multiplying, capable of spinning free at least sixteen seconds on one spin, rather wide in proportion to its diameter, and should hold 80 to 100 yards of No. 5 line. It should be easily taken apart and should be cleaned and oiled after every day's fishing. The frame may have stout pins or stanchions or else be cut out of a solid cylinder like many of the "Take-apart" reels costing around three dollars. My own boy has used a $2 Shakespeare reel for the last two years and it has never yet failed him during week after week of bait-casting for bass and pickerel and I won several tournaments with that same reel before I got a better one.

The line used in bait-casting is of fine braided silk, the finer the better; avoid coarse thick lines as they are very hard to cast and all accuracy disappears as soon as any distance is introduced. As the wind is constantly drifting your boat while you are casting, you need accuracy at all sorts of distances and for this the fine light braided silk line is needed. A good all-round selection is the Kingfisher No. 5 of 12 pounds breaking strength costing about $1 for a spool of fifty yards, though there are many others nearly as good and cheaper, say 75 cents for 50 yards.

Equipped with rod, reel and line, pick out any artificial lure weighing about an ounce and you are ready to learn the art. In casting only the forearm is used ; never swipe with your whole arm unless trying for a distance record. Begin the cast well over your shoulder with the rod pointing backward nearly horizontal. Put most of the impetus of your cast in the beginning of the stroke and stop the rod when it is pointing forward at about 45 degrees or even less. The lure should fly out in a rather flat arc and your care will be to thumb the reel spool so as to prevent it over-travelling and causing a backlash. Here is the crux of the matter, getting that knack of delicate thumbing the reel, just enough to keep the spool from over running, not enough to retard

BAIT CASTING RODS