Pacific Coast Trip.
As I am always looking for taller timber to plant my traps in and as
the drift of the trapper seems to be to the west, the Rockies and the
Pacific Coast, and as I have had some experience in the Rockies, and
along the Pacific Coast region, I will speak of some of the
advantages and disadvantages that the trapper will meet with in that
section.
The trapper will find the fur bearers more plentiful and many more
kinds of animals to take, than is found in the East, which is a great
advantage to the trapper. The hunter will find deer quite plentiful
in many places in the Rocky Mountains and on the Pacific Coast. In
1904 I was in Humboldt and Trinity Counties, California and I found
deer so plentiful and tame that it was no sport to shoot them. While
the law limited the hunter to two deer in a season, the people in the
mountains made their own laws, as to the number of deer that they
should kill. Black and brown bear are plentiful all through the Rocky
Mountains and in the Coast ranges. You see much written of the
grizzly bear in this region, but it is doubtful if a hunter or
trapper would see one or even the track of one during a whole
season's trapping. The trapper will find marten, fisher and lynx in
many places in the Rockies and in the Coast Range but nothing to what
there was a few years ago.
Now one who is contemplating trapping in the Rockies or on the
Pacific Coast, must bear in mind that the conditions that a trapper
meets with in this region are far different from what they are in the
East. The trapper who is planning a trip in that section before
starting out should examine his feet close to see that there are no
tender spots on them. The man who makes a success of trapping in this
region must be a man who can stand grief and hardships a plenty, for
he will run up against it often. He will find the mountain streams
hard to get along; he will have but little use for a boat as the
streams are rapid and full of boulders. In most cases the trapper
will be compelled to take his outfit into the mountains by pack
horses, and in many cases it will be necessary for the trapper to be
the horse.
The trapper to succeed in a financial way must take in a supply of
provisions to last at least until the first of June, for it is during
April, May and even June that he must do his bear trapping; for the
bear holes up or goes into hibernation down in the lower land and
does not show up much in the mountains until spring.
The trapper must provide himself with a good number of traps of
different sizes from the No. 1 for marten to the No. 5 for bear; and
that means a whole lot of packing and hard work. He must have at
least one pair of snow shoes, and should have an extra pair in case
of a mishap, in the way of breakage. One good gun is all that is
likely to be needed, and don't load yourself down with a lot of
revolvers, hunting knives, etc. A good strong pocket knife is all
that I have found necessary, though one should have more than one
knife no matter what kind he may use.
Here I will say a word as to a gun especially for the trap line. The
manufacturers of guns have as yet failed to make it. The Marble
Game-Getter comes the nearest to it of any now made, but that is not just
to my liking. We would do away with one of the barrels, and have a
single barrel, 44 caliber straight cut, with cartridges for both ball
and shot with 15 inch barrel, skeleton stock, similar to the Stevens
Pocket shot gun. Mind, I am speaking of an arm on purpose for the
trap line, and this kind of a gun would do the work and be light to
carry.
Now the expense for an outfit to go into the mountains for a season's
campaign is necessarily a considerable item. It is quite necessary
that the trapper has a number of camps on his line at advantageous
points, for the trapper cannot cover sufficient territory from one
camp to make it pay; besides, a number of camps on the line will
relieve the trapper of much hardship. I mention this matter thinking
it might be of some interest to some one whose feet are itching to
get into a big game country, and are thinking of only the game, and
not of the hardships they are sure to meet with. Another thing that
is well for the trapper who is looking for a happy hunting and
trapping ground to remember is, that he will no longer find game as
plentiful as it once was, in any place that is in any way easily
accessible. If the trapper will take into consideration the expense
and hardship that one must put up with in going on one of these
outings, it might be that he can find quite as much pleasure and
profit in looking up a trapping ground nearer home.
I will mention one or two places where one can find some sport where
it will not require the hardship nor expense, and at the same time
will find deer and some other game quite plentiful, with a fair
sprinkling of the fur bearers.
In Humboldt County, in California, on Redwood River, deer and bear
can be found quite plentiful, and there are some marten, fisher and a
few lynx, coon, mink, skunk and fox. The fox are mostly grey and you
may by chance meet occasionally with a mountain lion. To reach this
section the best way is from San Francisco by boat to Eureka, then by
rail and wagon.
Another section where game and fur bearers are fairly plentiful and
of easy access, is in the vicinity of Thompson's Falls, in Northern
Montana.
But if only a good outing is wanted, that can be had in Pecos Valley,
New Mexico. You will not find much to trap other than muskrats and
coon on the river and lakes, but they are quite plentiful, especially
the latter. You will find coyotes and some grey wolves, and some
antelope, which are protected. Duck shooting is good, the climate is
mild, only freezing ice the thickness of window glass in the coldest
weather, which is all thawed out and gone by ten o'clock. This
section is easily reached by rail.
* * *
In July, 1902, I was spending a few days at Spokane, Wash. Nearly
every day I would take an old cane fish pole and go to the river just
above the falls and fish for bass. I would shift my post from one
point along the bank of the river to another and sometimes I would go
out on the boom timbers and fish among the logs. Some days I would
get a bass or two, but oftener I got nothing further than the
pleasure of drowning a few minnows.
Nearly every morning I noticed a man would come down along the bank
of the river and go in the direction of the mill. Sometimes he would
stop and watch me for a few minutes, and then pass on without saying
anything. But one morning he came along when I happened to be sitting
close to his path. I looked up and gave the usual morning nod. The
gentleman, for such he proved to be, inquired what luck I was having.
I replied that I guessed it must be fisherman's luck, for I got but
few fish. He replied that he thought that there were very few bass in
the dam, as there was so much fishing done there.
I was quite sure that he was right from the number of fish I caught,
and I could see a number of others scattered about the pond, and some
on the logs, some on the boom timbers and some in boats. The next
morning I was back at my old post, and this man came along as usual.
He stopped, laughed and said that I seemed to have plenty of faith. I
replied that the occasion demanded great faith. He inquired if I
lived in the city. I told him that I lived in Pennsylvania and was
only out in that country to see the sights and get a few fish and a
little venison and later might try to get a little fur.
He informed me that his name was Nettel (Charles Nettel) that he was
a lumber inspector and that he was going to have a vacation the next
week. He intended going to the North Fork of the Clearwater on Elk
Creek, where he had a camp, and that if I wished to fill up on trout
and venison, I had better join him, as he had no one selected to
accompany him yet. I said, "Thank you, I would be pleased to do so,"
as quick as I could, for fear he would change his mind. I now dropped
my bass fishing and would drop into the mill where Mr. Nettel was at
work and catch a few minutes chat with my new-found friend, as an
opportunity would occur, until the time came to go to Mr. Nettel's
camp. As I had a complete outfit, including blankets, tin plates,
cups, knives, and forks, a takedown or folding stove with the
necessary cooking utensils, which I had not yet unpacked, we
concluded to take the whole kit along so that if anything had
happened at Mr. Nettel's camp we would have a tent as well as the
other camp outfit, but we found Mr. Nettel's shack all right. We took
a train to near a place called Orofino on the Clearwater River in
Idaho where we repacked our outfit, putting it into sacks.
We engaged a man with two pack horses to take our plunder to camp
which we found to be all right, and I wish to say that this was the
farthest up the gulch in the Rockies that I had been at that time.
I found my friend all right on the trout question, for trout were so
plenty it was no sport to catch them. The next morning after we were
in camp we climbed to what Mr. Nettel called the bench, but I thought
it was the moon. We had hardly got to the level, or bench, when we
say plenty of elk tracks so we followed in the direction in which the
fresh trails seemed to lead.
We had not gone far when I noticed something moving in the
underbrush, which might have been taken for a rocking chair for all
that I could tell. We stood still a few moments when three elk came
out in sight. We watched them feed for a few minutes, then made a
noise like a deer blowing, and the elk stopped feeding, stood and
listened and looked about for danger; Mr. Nettel again snorted and
the elk trotted off.
We now separated a little and began walking across the bench. We had
not gone far when I saw two buck deer feeding and shot one of them.
Mr. Nettel soon came to me and we took the entrails out of the deer
and drew the carcass down to camp where we sure had venison as well
as trout.
The man who packed our outfit up the gulch for us had a little
whiffet dog with him, and in some manner he neglected to take the dog
back with him. We were a little worried at first because the man had
left the dog with us, but later I at least was pleased that the dog
was with us.
We had dressed the deer and hung the meat up on trees near the shack.
The second night after we had the deer hanging up, along in the night
the dog kept growling so that after a time, as the moon was shining,
I thought I would get up and see what was worrying the pup. When I
opened the shack door the pup lit out like shot from a shovel, and I
could see the outline of some animal taking up a tree. I could hear
the bark from the tree falling to the ground like hail.
Mr. Nettel was still sound asleep, so I said nothing but took my gun
and stepped outside the shack. I could see the outlines of something
standing on a limb of the tree. I took the best aim I could owing to
the dim light and fired. The tree stood on the side of the gulch,
which was very steep, and when the gun cracked the object in the tree
apparently flew right up the side of the gulch from the tree.
The pup gave chase and within fifty yards I could again hear the bark
from the tree and soon again I could see the outline of the animal on
the tree. I was working along out towards the pup, when Mr. Nettel,
close to my side said, "It is a lion; be careful and take good aim
this time and kill him, if you can." I got up to the tree where I
could see the cat fairly fell, and with all the care possible, I
fired. The cat lit out from the tree, but this time he went down the
hill instead of up, and when he struck the ground it was broadside
instead of on all fours. As good luck would have it, I had hit him
square through the shoulders.
The cat was a little over seven feet long, and Mr. Nettel said that
it was not a large lion, but as it was the first one that I had seen
then I thought it was longer than a twelve-foot rail. We pulled the
cat up to the shack and turned in again. It was only eleven o'clock
and Mr. Nettel was soon sound asleep, but I had too much cat
excitement for me to do any more sleeping that night.
In the morning we skinned the cat, gathered dry leaves and stuffed
the skin and had a stuffed cat in camp. Later, we sold the skin to a
party for three dollars. We stayed in camp two weeks, feasting on
venison, trout, grouse, and other game. Some of the time we spent
prospecting for gold, but we failed to strike it rich.
At the end of the two weeks allotted Mr. Nettel, he was obliged to
return to his work, and I can say that I never spent two weeks' time
with more pleasure than I did with the friend I found while fishing
for bass.