WITH DOG AND GUN IN ILLINOIS. 



I!V I'RANK C. RIF.HI,. 



While it has been said with some 

 degree of truth that the spirit of true 

 sportsmanship is dying out in the great 

 Mississippi Valley, like the passing of 

 the race of the first Americans who 

 were its primal and truest teachers, 

 there still remains enough of it to con- 

 sume fully twenty per cent, of all the 

 manufactories of sporting goods in the 

 United States. It is a popular thing to 

 declare pessimistically that hunting in 

 the Central States has degenerated into 

 a mere pastime for juveniles, and while 

 the variety of our sport maybe compar- 

 atively tame, the writer woi:ld be will- 

 ing to undertake to furnish entertaining 

 pastime right in the heart of Illinois, to 

 the most exacting nimrod, during ten 

 months of the year. To be sure, the 

 howl of the prairie wolf is no more to 

 be heard, and the stories of stalking 

 deer in the native pastures and bagging 

 wild-fowl by the score in the open corn- 

 fields in midwinter, are now only remi- 

 niscences of the "oldest inhabitants," 

 but on the theory that effort is the price 

 of merit and true criterion of success, 

 we can yet get as much of genuine 

 results from a day's work afield, here in 

 Illinois, as ever our fathers could. 



Let us take the season in its rounds, 

 beginning September 15th. On this 

 date the game law lets down its barriers 

 in behalf of the grouse, or prairie 

 chicken, and by a little judicious inquiry 

 as to location, the true nimrod can at 

 any time during the ensuing eight weeks 

 get good shooting within a few hours' 

 journey by rail from any city in the 

 State. 



Then, on the first of October and 

 thence to December first, we have the 

 open season for partridge shooting, 

 which numbers its devotees by scores 



in every cross-roads town, and although 

 mercilessly hvmted with an army of 

 trained dogs supported through the 

 year for this brief season of work, the 

 law where respected and enforced is 

 sui^ciently protective to prevent the 

 rapid depletion of this beautiful game 

 bird. A bag of fifteen is a good day's 

 shooting for an average hunter in any 

 of the niral counties, — and what true 

 sportsman would not be satisfied to re- 

 turn home with such a showing ? 



Then comes the annual fall flight of 

 the larger wild fowl to Southern climes. 

 Tne Mississippi river has been from 

 time immemorial the highway of travel 

 for these nimrods of the air and water, 

 and their passage marks a period of 

 about two months, depending upon the 

 time of transition from the days of the 

 falling leaf to those of frozen lakes and 

 rivers. Notwithstanding the fact that 

 many of the natural swamps and lakes 

 have been drained and brought under 

 cultivation, there is still abundant feed- 

 ing ground, that from the very fact of 

 its cultivation is made safe for the birds, 

 and they remain here, roosting at night 

 on the great sandbars in the river, until 

 the heavy ice drives them down the 

 valley. This is the season that tries the 

 true sportsman, and he who with knowl- 

 edge of his art and the will and endur- 

 ance to follow it faithfully, applies him- 

 self earnestly to the hunting of ducks 

 and geese, is always well rewarded. To 

 be sure, there are days of poor results, 

 but these trips are generally gauged by 

 the weather, or by camping expeditions 

 extending through one or more weeks, 

 and I have oftener seen a score of from 

 10 to 25 birds at one sitting, than less. 

 I need hardly say that practically all 

 such shooting is done over decovs. 



