Fishing and Shooting in Mexico. 



127 



pounds may be hooked. A few miles 

 from the mouth of the jetties are the 

 red snapper banks, and as they are but 

 little fished, the fish are found in great 

 abundance and in large size. 



The high protective tariff, which 

 makes guns, powder and shot a luxury, 

 is responsible for the fact that deer, 

 turkey, ducks, geese and all feathered and 

 four-footed game is tame and abundant. 



The Valley of the Lerma and the 

 Swamps of Chapala are the winter 

 resort of millions of aquatic birds, from 

 snipe to swan, and the little creeks 

 which thread them, navigable for 

 canoes, afford an easy means of com- 

 munication and a delightful way of 

 shooting. A canoe with an Indian and 

 a paddle in the stern and a hunter and 

 gun at the bow is a combination which, 

 when once experienced, can never be 

 forgotten. 



Between Villar and Tampico, the 

 mountains, foot hills and plains border- 

 ing the coast are teeming with game. 

 Deer, an occasional tiger, wild hogs 

 and, in the more remote hills monkeys 

 can be found, not to mention pheasants, 

 turkeys, and smaller feathered game. 

 The rivers discharging into the Gulf 

 through the jetties at Tampico afford 

 hundreds of miles of slack water navi- 

 gation through an almost virgin 

 country. Alligators, an occasional 



manatee may be seen on their banks. 

 This is the paradise of the canoeist and 

 camper out, a delightful climate and an 

 abundance of fish and game both large 

 and small. 



Wandering through the tropical for- 

 est in your well fitted canoe, drifting, 

 paddling or sailing imder arches of 

 verdure, while the parrots and the 

 macaws scream as you pass, only in 

 Mexico, and only in this part of Mexico, 

 can it be done. Tourists and sports- 

 men can bring their own guns and a 

 limited amount of amunition free of all 

 duties at the border. 



In the Lake Chapala region it is cus- 

 tomary to obtain permission from the 

 owners of the land in order to shoot 

 over it. This, however, any respectable 

 person can procure through a letter of 

 recommendation to the owner. 



In the region of the Tampico Branch, 

 hunting, as a general rule, is not re- 

 stricted. 



I did not mention above that in the 

 Tampico region are found wild mus- 

 covy ducks, which are brilliant in 

 plumage, large in size and fine eating. 

 These ducks are to be found in the 

 little rivers which thread the sub-tropi- 

 cal forest. 



There is no closed season in Mexico, 

 so that shooting can be carried on at 

 any time. 



