FIELD SPORTS IN MINNESOTA 



Bv CHARLES A. ZIMMERMAN. 



THE fall of 1877 will long be remembered by the people of 

 Minnesota as the time when the destructive locust took his 

 farewell meal from their wheat-fields. Fields that might have 

 yielded from three to five bushels of wheat per acre were not gleaned 

 at all, but left to be plowed over in the fall. To such fields as these 

 the wild fowl, for which the State is noted, resorted undisturbed, and 

 geese, brant, cranes, and ducks fairly reveled in their bounty. 



It may well be imagined that news of this state of affairs sent 

 numerous hunting parties out along the two lines of railroad that 

 penetrate the afflicted region, viz., the Sioux City and St. Paul, and 

 the St. Paul and Pacific roads. During the last week in September 

 of that year, the writer found himself with a party of three friends en 

 route by the second-named road for a few days' stay among the wild 

 fowl in Kandiyohi County. With every possible convenience for 

 camping out, the outfit comprised also a portable Bond boat, and a 

 full complement of decoy-ducks, together with a dozen or more 



goose-decoys, all of our own manufacture. W , our " Senior," 



brought along his ntrieving setter and constant companion, "Prince." 

 B , our "Junior," from Lake City, Minnesota, exhibited with par- 

 donable pride his " Royal Fan," a dark liver-and-white pointer, the 

 first -prize winner in her class at the New York Bench Show of 1877. 

 irk," a dark-brown Irish water-spaniel, accompanied his master 



J , the most tireless hunter of the party. Fuller" and "Occie," 



a matched pair of black-ami white setters, were the property of the 

 writer, and with those before mentioned comprised the dogs of the 

 part\. 

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