2o8 GAME AND FISH RESORTS. 



Winnipeg, tiie sportsman will come to one of the largest duck- 

 shooting grounds in the country, perhaps in the world, the mouth 

 of Red River where the amount of water-fowl is something won- 

 derful. The Indians here never use more than one-half oz. of shot. 

 No. 2, but they slaughter the birds by creeping up to a flock in 

 their canoes, and firing at a few yards. There are, however, here, 

 many residents, American, Canadian, and English, who are lovers 

 of the gun and dog. In the fall of the year the prairies literally 

 swarm with pinnated gfrouse, and it is no uncommon feat for a 

 fair shot to bag from sixty to one hundred and fifty in one day. 

 The Pembina Mountains, about seventy miles distant, are favorite 

 feeding grounds for wa vies. Woodcock are found about Winnipeg. 



Besides the birds mentioned, swans, cranes, grey and white 

 pelicans, etc., are very plentiful in the lakes and marshes, with 

 which the country abounds. The flesh of the grey crane is very 

 fine and much esteemed, whereas in the States it is considered 

 unfit for food. There are here two species of white crane, one very 

 large, and having a crimson patch on the top of the head ; this bird 

 is very shovsry, and if only winged, extremely dangerous to approach. 



The yellow legged plover is also very plentiful, and one can 

 make a bag in almost any marsh or swamp ; in the fall of the year 

 they are very fat and a delicious addition to the larder. The game 

 consists chiefly of moose, elk, caribou, black and brown bear, with 

 beaver and other fur animals. Moose, especially in the vicinity of 

 Pembina Mountains and the region north of Shoal Lake, are quite 

 numerous, as also in that portion of the country lying between 

 Winnipeg and the Lake of the Woods. Unlike those in Nova 

 Scotia and New Brunswick, the moose here do not " yard " but 

 travel generally in pairs or at most four together. The hunting of 

 them is very difficult and great hardship is endured by the hunter, 

 teing compelled to use very large snow-shoes, and then sinking 

 to the knees at every step, the snow in this country having nc 

 crust at any time during the winter. 



Since the foregoing was written, the development of Manitoba 

 has been almost beyond precedent. Within a little more than 

 ten years Winnipeg has grown from an isolated Hudson Bay 

 post to a commercial metropolis of 30,000 people. No less than 

 five lines of railroad concentrate there, and in less than two 

 years more, it will be connected with the Pacific coast and the 

 Gulf of St. Lawrence by a transcontinental iron track. Lines of 

 steamers ply upon the Red River, the Winnipeg River, and the 

 Assiniboine, and the old Red River cart is almost obsolete as a 

 freight carrier. While in some localities the railroads have 

 driven out the game, it has made other remote places more ac- 

 cessible; and at La Portage, St. Paul's Bay, Brandon, and 



