Hunting With the Bow & Arrow

Part 1

Produced by Eric Eldred, Marvin A. Hodges, Tonya Allen, Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.

HUNTING with the

BOW & ARROW

Saxton Pope

With 48 Illustrations

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DEDICATED

ROBIN HOOD

A SPIRIT THAT AT SOME TIME DWELLS IN

THE HEART OF EVERY YOUTH

CONTENTS

I.--THE STORY OF THE LAST YANA INDIAN.

II.--ISHI'S BOW AND ARROW.

III.--ISHI'S METHODS OF HUNTING.

IV.--ARCHERY IN GENERAL.

V.--HOW TO MAKE A BOW.

VI.--HOW TO MAKE AN ARROW.

VII.--ARCHERY EQUIPMENT.

VIII.--HOW TO SHOOT.

IX.--THE PRINCIPLES OF HUNTING.

X.--THE RACCOON, WILDCAT, FOX, COON, CAT, AND WOLF.

XI.--DEER HUNTING.

XII.--BEAR HUNTING.

XIII.--MOUNTAIN LIONS.

XIV.--GRIZZLY BEAR.

XV.--ALASKAN ADVENTURES.

A CHAPTER OF ENCOURAGEMENT BY STEWART EDWARD WHITE.

THE UPSHOT.

Part 2

ILLUSTRATIONS

THE SHADES OF SHERWOOD FOREST

A DEATH MASK OF ISHI

ISHI AND APPERSON

CALLING GAME IN AMBUSH

THE INDIAN'S FAVORITE SHOOTING POSITION

CHOPPING OUT A JUNIPER BOW

OUR CARAVAN LEAVING DEER CREEK CANYON

ISHI FLAKING AN OBSIDIAN ARROW HEAD

THE INDIAN AND A DEER

THREE TYPES OF HUNTING ARROWS

A BLUNT ARROW SHOT THROUGH AN INCH BOARD

"BRER" FOX UP A TREE

ART YOUNG SHOOTS FISH

DETAILS OF BOW CONSTRUCTION

SEVERAL STEPS IN ARROW MAKING

ARROW HEADS OF VARIOUS SORTS USED IN HUNTING

NECESSARY ARCHERY EQUIPMENT

AN ARCHER'S MEASURE, A FISTMELE

THE ENGLISH METHOD OF DRAWING THE ARROW

NOCKING THE SHAFT ON THE STRING

THE LONG BOW FULL DRAWN

WILL AND MAURICE THOMPSON, AS THEY APPEARED IN 1878

SHOOTING BRUSH RABBITS

ARCHERS IN AMBUSH

ISHI RIDING A HORSE FOR THE FIRST TIME

A REST AT NOON

A LYNX THAT MET AN ARCHER

Part 3

THE CHIEF LOOKING OVER GOOD DEER COUNTRY

MR. COON BROUGHT INTO CAMP

A PRETTY PAIR OF WINGS

JUST A LITTLE HUNT BEFORE BREAKFAST

YOUNG AND COMPTON WITH A QUAIL APIECE

WOODCHUCKS GALORE!

PORCUPINE QUILLS TO DECORATE A QUIVER

A FATAL ARROW AT 65 YARDS

THE CHIEF AND ART GET A BUCK AT 85 YARDS

TOM MURPHY WITH HIS TWO BEST DOGS, BUTTON AND BALDY

YOUNG AND I ARE VERY PROUD OF OUR MAIDEN BEAR

ARTHUR YOUNG AND HIS COUGAR

OUR FIRST MOUNTAIN LION

WE PACK THE PANTHER TO CAMP

CAMP AT SQUAW LAKE, WYOMING

THE RESULT OF OUR FIRST ENCOUNTER WITH GRIZZLY BEAR

BRINGING HOME THE TROPHIES

LOOKING FOR GRIZZLIES ON CUB CREEK

THE TREE THAT NED FROST CLIMBED TO ESCAPE DEATH

MY FEMALE GRIZZLY AND THE ARROW THAT KILLED HER

ARTHUR YOUNG SLAYS THE MONARCH OF THE MOUNTAINS

BULL MOOSE BAGGED ON THE KENAI PENINSULA

THE GREAT KADIAC BEAR BROUGHT LOW

ARTHUR YOUNG OUTWITS THE ALASKA BIGHORN

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Hunting with the Bow and Arrow

THE STORY OF THE LAST YANA INDIAN

The glory and romance of archery culminated in England before the discovery of America. There, no doubt, the bow was used to its greatest perfection, and it decided the fate of nations. The crossbow and the matchlock had supplanted the longbow when Columbus sailed for the New World.

Part 4

It was, therefore, a distinct surprise to the first explorers of America that the natives used the bow and arrow so effectively. In fact, the sword and the horse, combined with the white man's superlative self-assurance, won the contest over the aborigines more than the primitive blunderbuss of the times. The bow and arrow was still more deadly than the gun.

With the gradual extermination of the American Indian, the westward march of civilization, and the improvement in firearms, this contest became more and more unequal, and the bow disappeared from the land. The last primitive Indian archer was discovered in California in the year 1911.

When the white pioneers of California descended through the northern part of that State by the Lassen trail, they met with a tribe of Indians known as the Yana, or Yahi. That is the name they called themselves. Their neighbors called them the Nozi, and the white men called them the Deer Creek or Mill Creek Indians. Different from the other tribes of this territory, the Yana would not submit without a struggle to the white man's conquest of their lands.

The Yana were hunters and warriors. The usual California natives were yellow in color, fat and inclined to be peaceable. The Yana were smaller of stature, lithe, of reddish bronze complexion, and instead of being diggers of roots, they lived by the salmon spear and the bow. Their range extended over an area south of Mount Lassen, east of the Sacramento River, for a distance of fifty miles.

From the earliest settlement of the whites, hostilities existed between them. This resulted in definitely organized expeditions against these Indians, and the annual slaughter of hundreds.

The last big round-up of Mill Creek Indians occurred in 1872, when their tribe was surprised at its seasonal harvest of acorns. Upon this occasion a posse of whites killed such a number of natives that it is said the creek was damned with dead bodies. An accurate account of these days may be obtained from Watterman's paper on the Yana Indians. [Footnote 1: Vol. 13, No. 2, Am. Archaeology and Ethnology.]

During one of the final raids upon the Yana, a little band of Indian women and children hid in a cave. Here they were discovered and murdered in cold blood. One of the white scouting party laconically stated that he used his revolver to blow out their brains because the rifle spattered up the cave too much.

So it came to pass, that from two or three thousand people, the Yana were reduced to less than a dozen who escaped extermination. These were mainly women, old men and children. This tribal remnant sought the refuge of the impenetrable brush and volcanic rocks of Deer Creek Canyon. Here they lived by stealth and cunning. Like wild creatures, they kept from sight until the whites quite forgot their existence.

It became almost a legend that wild Indians lived in the Mount Lassen district. From time to time ranchers or sheep herders reported that their flocks had been molested, that signs of Indians had been found or that arrowheads were discovered in their sheep. But little credence was given these rumors until the year 1908, when an electric power company undertook to run a survey line across Deer Creek Canyon with the object of constructing a dam.

One evening, as a party of linemen stood on a log at the edge of the deep swift stream debating the best place to ford, a naked Indian rose up before them, giving a savage snarl and brandishing a spear. In an instant the survey party disbanded, fell from the log, and crossed the stream in record-breaking time. When they stopped to get their breath, the Indian had disappeared. This was the first appearance of Ishi, [Footnote 2: Ishi is pronounced "E-she."] the Yana.

Next morning an exploring expedition set out to verify the excited report of the night before. The popular opinion was that no such wildman existed, and that the linemen had been seeing things. One of the group offered to bet that no signs of Indians would be found.

As the explorers reached the slide of volcanic boulders where the apparition of the day before had disappeared, two arrows flew past them. They made a run for the top of the slide and reached it just in time to see two Indians vanish in the brush. They left behind them an old white-haired squaw, whom they had been carrying. She was partially paralyzed, and her legs were bound in swaths of willow bark, seemingly in an effort to strengthen them.

The old squaw was wrinkled with age, her hair was cropped short as a sign of mourning, and she trembled with fear. The white men approached and spoke kindly to her in Spanish. But she seemed not to understand their words, and apparently expected only death, for in the past to meet a white man was to die. They gave her water to drink, and tried to make her call back her companions, but without avail.

Further search disclosed two small brush huts hidden among the laurel trees. So cleverly concealed were these structures that one could pass within a few yards and not discern them. In one of the huts acorns and dried salmon had been stored; the other was their habitation. There was a small hearth for indoor cooking; bows, arrows, fishing tackle, a few aboriginal utensils and a fur robe were found. These were confiscated in the white man's characteristic manner. They then left the place and returned to camp.

Next day the party revisited the site, hoping to find the rest of the Indians. These, however, had gone forever.

Nothing more was seen or heard of this little band until the year 1911, when on the outskirts of Oroville, some thirty-two miles from the Deer Creek camp, a lone survivor appeared. Early in the morning, brought to bay by a barking dog, huddled in the corner of a corral, was an emaciated naked Indian. So strange was his appearance and so alarmed was the butcher's boy who found him, that a hasty call for the town constable brought out an armed force to capture him.

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