The events that happened in Kekoskee, Wisconsin are so extraordinary and improbable that I always hesitate about telling the story. The evidence is legal, convincing and overwhelming.  In total it makes up the grandest fish story in the history of a lifetime. It is really a story about bullheads, and of course it is a beautiful story, for the bullhead is naturally a romantic fish.  Every man in Mayville and Kekoskee knows this story, and without any hint or coaching will tell it to you exactly as his neighbor does.  Everyone in town knows the horse too.  You see, there was ..read more

If the sketch which follows, depicting a general outline of incidents which entered into the experience of a "Greenhorn," on his first deer hunt in the wilds of Michigan, shall have the effect of driving the work-encumbered denizens of the city into some reasonable consideration for his own wellbeing, by taking for himself such recreation as will yield him the greatest possible benefit, the object of it will have been accomplished. After a fellow has spent say thirty years of his life with his nose at the grindstone, it is not astonishing that it comes to strike him at last as being somewhat m ..read more

The Back Lakes of Canada As was their custom, several young men of the town of Cobourg (a Canadian frontier town) met one evening in Frank Stalwart's rooms at the "North American." This was in the latter days of August, four years ago — yes, it must be four years ago, and yet how fresh in my memory, in spite of the many changes, some so gladly welcomed and others so ruthlessly bitter, which have since then transpired. On this particular evening the usual gossip was almost exhausted, when Ned Benton, a young, but not briefless, barrister, proposed we should settle upon the manner in which to ta ..read more

TROUT FISHING Give me a rod of the split bamboo, A rainy day and a fly or two, A mountain stream where the eddies play, And mists hang low o'er the winding way.   Give me a haunt by the purling brook, A hidden spot in a mossy nook, No sound save hum of the drowsy bee, Or lone bird's tap on the hollow tree.   The world may roll with its busy throng And phantom scenes, on its way along; It's stocks may rise, or it's stocks may fall— Ah! what care I for its baubles all?   I cast my fly o'er the troubled rill, Luring the beauties by magic skill, With mind at rest and a heart at ease ..read more

The Back Lakes of Canada As was their custom, several young men of the town of Cobourg (a Canadian frontier town) met one evening in Frank Stalwart's rooms at the "North American." This was in the latter days of August, four years ago — yes, it must be four years ago, and yet how fresh in my memory, in spite of the many changes, some so gladly welcomed and others so ruthlessly bitter, which have since then transpired. On this particular evening the usual gossip was almost exhausted, when Ned Benton, a young, but not briefless, barrister, proposed we should settle upon the manner in which to ta ..read more

NATURES INVITATION On the fair face of Nature let us muse, and dream by lapsing stream and drooping wood; Tread the dark forests whose primeval ranks, since the creation dawn have cast their shade; Ponder by flowing stream and ocean tides, and note the varied forms of life they hold, Mark the wild game so clear to hunter's heart, the swarming fowl that skim the salty deeps, The birds that haunt the woodlands and the plains, The fish that swim the seas, the lakes, the streams, And tempt the thoughtful angler to their marge; Glance at the life that fills our native woods, and game of Asian plain ..read more

METAPHYSICS OF DEER HUNTING When the financial panic was at its height last week, we visited a wealthy friend whose up-town mansion is palatial, his income from safe and judicious investments always ample and assured, and his bank account invariably showing a balance to his credit of many thousands. A gentleman who dabbles little in speculative risks; and whom cares of State and fluctuations of the market of late do not perplex ; one of those rare exceptions among men, content with sufficient and not ambitious for more. Surely, his was a case not, within the range of human probability, to be a ..read more

REMINISCENCE OF LAKE SUPERIOR BY THOMAS SEDGWICK STEELE It was with a hearty laugh that Dr. W. bounded into my room one bright morning in the latter part of September, without waiting to knock or in any way announce his arrival. In almost the same breath he called out, “Why! you’re a pretty fellow to be housed here all day long, fussing over those feathers and wires ! Why are you not on the river trolling, or in the woods after partridges? Come, put up those tools and lets off for a day’s tramp. Peter has put up enough luncheon for two, so pick up your gun and come on.” The fact was, that for ..read more

Hunting Caribou in Nova Scotia Cobequid Mountains, Near Westchester, Nova Scotia September 8th, 1873.   Dear Editor Forest and Stream: — Thanks to some instructions given by you to me, as to time and locality, while in your city in June last, I have had the satisfaction of killing my first caribou. As I had informed you, when last I had the pleasure of seeing you, I was not unfamiliar with hunting this animal, having killed three caribou in 1871, and two last year in New Brunswick. My traps I had sent to a friend in Halifax about the middle of August, and I found them in good order on arr ..read more

REMINISCENCE OF LAKE SUPERIOR BY THOMAS SEDGWICK STEELE It was with a hearty laugh that Dr. W. bounded into my room one bright morning in the latter part of September, without waiting to knock or in any way announce his arrival. In almost the same breath he called out, “Why! you’re a pretty fellow to be housed here all day long, fussing over those feathers and wires ! Why are you not on the river trolling, or in the woods after partridges? Come, put up those tools and lets off for a day’s tramp. Peter has put up enough luncheon for two, so pick up your gun and come on.” The fact was, that for ..read more