BREAKING AND HANDLING. 3OI 



prairie country of the center of the United States from and 

 including Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin on the North 

 to Louisiana and Texas on the South; they are also plenti- 

 ful to a certain limit northward in British America. They 

 are rapidly becoming exterminated. Such a short time ago 

 as 1882 and 1883, the shooting was uniformly good. It 

 was then no unusual affair to kill from fifty to one hundred 

 birds in a day. In the same sections where the author shot 

 hundreds of them at that time, they now are a rarity. There is 

 an enormous decrease every year excepting in a few favored 

 localities; but the restless search for new grounds will 

 eventually sweep all alike. The advent of the breech- 

 loader and better dogs -has sealed their fate. 



In locating for a chicken hunt, it is much better to select 

 a small town for headquarters. The large towns are always 

 overrun with visiting sportsmen besides having a full quota 

 of local shooters, a certain percentage of whom gather in 

 a generous share of the birds before the legal season opens. 

 This is so common, except in the vicinity of the large cities, or 

 large towns which have game protective associations, that it 

 is wholly useless to visit one of them with a view to hunting 

 purposes. Unfortunately some of the associations are not 

 always consistent in their practice as individuals with their 

 promulgations as clubs. 



Nothing is more destructive to the enjoyment of shoot- 

 ing than crowding. The chicken country, each season, is 

 completely scoured by hunters, and every succeeding season 

 witnesses an enormous accession to their numbers. During 

 the few days prior to the opening day, the baggage cars 

 on every one of the numerous lines through the chicken 

 country are crowded with dogs, tents, guns and general 

 shooting paraphernalia and camping outfits. On the open- 

 ing day and several days thereafter, and in a lesser degree 

 several days before, the country is swept. The sportsman 



