GROUSE. 12 r 



There, you have winged one and hurt another one that will fly out 

 of sight and die. 



If you use a muzzle-loader you will get no more shots there, 

 • hut you can load a breech-loader before the few that still stick 

 will rise. When you get these up let the dog hunt the ground for 

 a hundred yards all around where they rose, and he will probably 

 get you a half dozen shots at a thirty yards rise ; and if your gun 

 is good and you are any sort of a shot, you will get every one. 

 Now go for that pack of five hundred you saw down on yonder 

 hill-side a mile away. You get half way there when your dog, 

 wh|ich is a hundred yards in advance, flushes one. Serves you 

 right for not keeping him in ; they won't lie to dogs now. You 

 go a little further, when up gets one right under your feet. Hold 

 on ! yoii'U miss entirely or cut him to shreds if you don't give him 

 at least twenty yards. At the crack of your gun there is a cloud 

 of feathers and the bird has disappeared ;• but there goes another 

 crossing you forty yards ahead ; aim two feet ahead and you will 

 bring him. - The grass_seems to be literally alive with them, and 

 they get up faster than you can take them, till you have bagged 

 seven or eight. You can go on till you get within three or four 

 hundred yards of " that big pack," when they go off in a body and 

 don't give you a shot. If is now nearly two o'clock and the birds 

 are getting hungry again. However, if you are not too tired you 

 can find some more scattered ojies that will add a few to your bag ; 

 but after three o'clock it is useless to pursue thepi ; besides you 

 have now bagged ten or twelve brace and ought to be satisfied. 



Iowa was probably the best shooting ground for the Pinnated 

 Grouse, within easy reach of the'East. Now this game is hunted 

 over most of the States of Kansas and Nebraska. From Des 

 Meines northwest, one may stop at Grand Junction or Gowrie, 

 north of there, or at almost any station west of Grand Junction. 

 Going west from Des Moines, stop at Stuart, and take stage line 

 to Fontanelle, twelve miles out, where there are excellent shoot- 

 ing conveniences. Twelve miles west from Stuart is Casey. 

 Take stage from there to Fontanelle, twenty-four miles. Or go 

 out from Omaha, Nebraska, over the Union Pacific & Chicago, 

 B. & Quincy Roads, stopping at any of the various stations 

 where there are taverns. In most cases it will be necessary 

 to go from four to ten miles from the railroad, as the birds are 



