220 TEXAS NATURE OBSERVATIONS AND REMINISCENCES. 



a strenuous tramp to the Chisos 

 Moutains, 100 miles away. There 

 bear can be found in reasonable 

 quantities, but mountain lions and 

 wolves are in abundance, as well 

 as black-tailed deer, which grow 

 to an enormous size, often weighing 

 250 pounds. 



Del Rio is a very good place 

 from which to organize a bear and 

 panther hunt. This charming city, 

 is 120 miles from San Antonio, 

 on the Southern Pacific Railway. 



DEER AND TURKEY 



In the Helotes Mountains that 

 lie generally northwest of San An- 

 tonio and within 18 miles of that 

 city, good deer shooting can be 

 had from November until January 

 each year. 



Pearsall, Cotulla, Asherton and 

 Encinal stations, on the Interna- 

 tional and Great Northern Rail- 

 way are good ppints from which 

 the best deer shooting can be had. 



Hondo, Sabinal, Kline and Spof- 

 ford Junction, on the Southern 

 Pacific, west, are also excellent 

 points for deer, and can be reached 

 from San Antonio in a few hours' 

 run from that city. 



QUAIL and' rabbits 



Probably no other region in the 

 world offers the splendid field 

 shooting that is still to be found in 

 Southwest Texas. The limit on 

 quail is 25 birds per day per man, 

 and the sport to be had is second 

 to none in the world. There are 

 so many good places for quail 

 that it is impossible for us to enum- 

 erate them all in this short ar- 

 ticle, but you can make no mistake 

 in coming straight to San Antonio 

 where choice can be made from 

 over 200 good points where the hun- 

 ter can find good cover, plenty of 

 water and birds enough to enable 

 a good shot to kill his limit in two 

 hours. 



bass fishing 



Just one day's ride from San 

 Antonio by automobile the angler 

 can reach the dream of the fish- 

 erman's life; a beautiful, rushing, 

 cold water stream, the South Fork 



of theLlano River, running mostly 

 through rock bottom, with bor- 

 dures of wild mint, water cress, 

 elephant ears, ferns of all kinds, 

 picturesque caverns, impoUuted by 

 the hand of the vandal, and shaded 

 by trees, hackberries, elms and 

 cottonwoods. There the greatest 

 fish hog in the world can glut him- 

 self with all kinds of fish, which, 

 together with the ever-present 

 squirrel offers an inducement that 

 is as charming as it is rare. This 

 glorious spot can also be reached 

 by taking the San Antonio and 

 Aransas Pass train at 4 p. m. 

 each day, arriving at the charming 

 city of Kerrville at 7:00 the same 

 evening, where the fisherman will 

 find good hotels where he can 

 abide the night. The following 

 morning he can take the stage and 

 arrive at the fishing place at 

 7 p. m., after one of the most 

 charming and picturesque rides 

 imaginable." 



As to deer hunting in olden 

 times, whilst good numbers of 

 deer still abound in the old hunt- 

 ing grounds of Western Texas 

 to-day, they, like the other large 

 game, will gradually be extermi- 

 nated in the inhabited regions. 

 Large herds of them could often 

 be seen in olden days around Leon 

 Springs, Boerne and Comfort and 

 all the other mountainous regions 

 — just like the herds of tame deer 

 seen to-day in our beautiful Brack- 

 enridge Park. The lovely vales and 

 hills around Boerne in former 

 years always were a prolific ramb- 

 ling place for the hunter, the old 

 sturdy settlers, mostly German 

 farmers, being dependent upon 

 their prowess in killing game for a 

 living. There were no game laws 

 in those days, nay, not until just 

 a few years ago, maybe six or eight, 

 were there any game laws enacted. 

 Neither were there any "game 

 hogs," which came later, to shoot 

 and kill whatever they came across. 

 When a mere boy, and living with 

 my parents on a farm near Boerne, 

 one of our neighbors — Anton 



