THE AMERICAN SPORTSMAN'S JOURNAL, 



NEW YORK, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1878. 



For Forest and Stream and Rod and Gu n - 



^mkhn. 



K 



AN Indian name, evidently. We do not know the Eng- 

 lish for it, and presume you do not. So, from our 

 knowledge of the locality and of the customs of our red pre- 

 decessors to give to a country a title indicating its character- 

 istic features, we may quits Bttfflly assume that Myakka 

 means Hunters' Paradise, Deer's dome, Turkey Eoost, or — 

 well, suit yourself — any term suggestive of an abundance of 

 game and the best possible place for a hunter to drop into 

 for a month's sport in winter, and you have it as well named 

 as it is ul present. AVe say "drop into " advisedly, for if 

 there is any pleasure in getting to it in any other way we 

 confess to utter ignorance of it. 



If you are interested to know what and whore Myakka is, 

 take any large mapof Florida, and, finding Manatee County, 

 the name will appear connected with lakes and a river enter- 

 ing Charlotte's Harbor. The Floridian gj ves to al I the territory 

 drained by a stream the name it bears, so iu the present in- 

 stance lakes, Tiver and the adjoining country, including a 

 ■widely scattered settlement, are all known as "The My- 

 akka." With the lakes and river our story runs. The former 

 lie southeast from the enterprising village of Manatee, on 

 the Manatee River, twenty-seven miles from the wharf, 

 where two fine ocean-going steamers land the semi-weekly 

 mail for South Florida. Not very far, one would say, to 

 travel for good sport. Well, it isn't, over a fine road and 

 with a lively team ; but good roads and lively teams ate not 

 found in tins part of Florida. So, upon the occasion that 

 our party of four jolly hunters traveled these twenty-seven 

 miles, an ox-team for our hoat and grain, a pony and cart 

 and three saddle-nags were our means of transportation, Our 

 start was made upon a bright morning in December, 1877, 

 one of the mornings when the visitor to Florida from the 

 frozen hills of NewEugland or the bleak prairies of the West 

 finds it impossible to realize that it is indeed winter, and 

 that around his distant home the cold blasts are whistling. 

 With the mocking-birds in full chorus, wild flowers in full 

 bloom, and perhaps heat enough to make coats a burden, it 

 is hard to believe that it can be cold a few hundred miles 

 away. 



We had started our ox-team several hours in advance of 

 the party with a darkic driver, whose knowledge, or rather 

 ignorance, of the road was an unknown quantity in his edu- 

 cation. So, late in the day we espied our Newburyport 

 " dory," bobbing along over the prairie several miles ahead, 

 and on a wrong trail, heading loo far to the westward. "No 

 use to go back," said we. "It's open prairie and pine woods, 

 and we will just cut across in the morning to tho right 

 road." So said we in our ignorance of what was between 

 us and that road; and, camping for the night, we made a 

 fine supper from a sand-hill crane the darkle' had killed, and 

 some quail we had " taken in" by the wayside. 



We - have often noticed the fact that the first morning in 

 camp a party will rise fearfully early. Even the at-other- 

 times lazy fellow seems impressed with the truthfulness of 

 the saying concerning birds and worms, and is perhaps the 

 one to light the fire for our early cup of coffee. It was so 

 in the present instance, and before the sun shone through 

 the pine trees we were marching to meet him and to regain 

 the main road. At noon we were still marching eastward, 

 and had reached no road, with the disagreeable impr-ssion 

 intruding itself upon us that perhaps we had better have 

 gone back to the main road upon the trail we followed off j 

 an impression that struck us with all the force of a dead 

 certainty, when about 1 o'clock our cavalcade, with ox-team 

 slowly bringing up the rear, came to a halt against an im- 

 passable slough running north and south, or directly across 

 our course, and stretching in either direction as far as one 

 could see. Slightly provoking sight ! But how do you sup- 

 pose we felt, after following that infernal slough four or five 

 miles to the southward hunting in vain for a crossing, to be 

 told by a cow hunter, whom we chanced to meet, that the 

 only crossing was about four miles back, and that we had 

 passed it. 



The writer swore, and has forgotten if every one else 

 didn't. Wo had driven through as rough a country along 

 the edge of the slough as a cart ever went through, jolting 

 over logs and palmetto roots until the oakum started 'out of 

 the boat's seams, and to go back over such a miserable track 

 was a trial of patience, indeed. 



Our mounted men, skirmishing to the right and left of 

 the crawling teams, found an abundance of jack-snipe and 

 yellow-legs in the edges of small ponds and in wet spots 

 where the woods had been burned a few weeks before dur- 

 ing a dry season ; though it must be confessed that the pro- 

 portion of misses to hits of shots at the swift flying birds 

 way anything but flattering to the vanity of the sportsmen. 

 That tl'ie horses had to assume the blame for many a wasted 

 cartridge, was not surprising; they were a little gun-shy. A 

 fox squirrel, hunting forbia mid-day lunch, afforded a mark 



for the rifle of tho weary driver of our pony cart, and added 

 a delicious dish to the dinner, devoured at a late hour 

 within sight of the lakes, toward which our erratic course 

 nad constantly tended. 



The fatigue and mishaps of the day's travel were forgotten 

 around the bright light-wood camp-fire, and with the smoke 

 of our pipes our spirits and anticipations rose. [Visitors to 

 our camp from a nol-far-dislanl farmhouse, of the gentle as 

 well as the sterner sex, helped us to enjoy the evening, and 

 assured us of game iu abundance, in return for which assur- 

 ance we promised the ladies a boat-ride— and never kept the 

 the promise. _ Two of them had never been in a boat, and 

 were filled with admiration of our dory, even as it appeared 

 perched on the ox-cart. 



The day's fatigue and extended evening pleasures " told " 

 on our slumbers, so that old Sol winked merrily at discov- 

 ering a party of hunters still snoozing under the pine trees 

 as his earliest and brightest, rays touched the "Upper Lake." 

 A mile or more away at the foot of a gcntly-deseeuding 

 slope it lay before us, slightly ruffled by the breeze, glitter- 

 ing like millions' of diamonds in the sunlight. A wide 

 border of bright green grass, covering the bottoms that over- 

 flow in high water, forms an emerald setting for the 

 lake's brilliants. Bordering the picture, with the irregular 

 and graceful outlines, stand clusters of grand old moss- 

 draped live oaks, stalely palms with gracefully pendant 

 leaves, and maples bright with the tints of this their autumn 

 season. But for the palmettoes, that give to the sceneiits 

 tropical look, we might for the moment imagine ourselves in 

 the carefully-kept park of one of England's favored landown- 

 ers, for the hundreds of cattle quietly feeding on the grass 

 keep it smooth and close-clipped as a lawn. No stretch of the 

 imagination, however, could ever picture such cattle as these 

 iu "bis lordship's" park. Wild, small, and broad-horned, 

 they ib) not wait for au inspection that would justify a closer 

 description, but, with heads up, go with a rush for the 

 nearest timber. There are over one hundred thousand such 

 catlle in Manatee County that are driven and penned yearly 

 for marking and branding. It is not, then, to be wondered 

 at that the seven hundred registered democratic voters of 

 the county find little time forthe adornment of their homes, 

 a lack that the visitor notices at the first glauce. With our 

 arrival at the lake our fishing began, and, though it was 

 Sunday morning, we had to catch a bass for dinner. We 

 have read Fobkst and Stream for years, and with feelings 

 of mostprofound self-gratification have compared the fishing, 

 with which some of our fellow-sportsmen (whose exploits 

 are therein recorded) seem well satisfied, with that enjoyed 

 by us at these lakes. Some whose experiences have been there 

 related and read with interest have gloried in a catch of 

 from four to a dozen black bass, describing so vividly every 

 turn and effort of the finny game as to convey to the reader 

 almost the pleasurable excitement enjoyed by the captor. 



How we wish for the happy faculty of description enjoyed 

 by some of these to recount the captures on these pretty 

 lakes and river. A fourteen-foot bamboo rod, stout linen 

 line and big hooks completed our fishing rig. A hit of veni- 

 son ami a wisp of white hair filched from the 'attcr end of 

 our dog's tail made a bait. Just the thing it proved to be 

 for bringing the bass up from the bottom of the cold water. 

 Another good quality it possessed, that ot lasting. We 

 caught fish with it for four days. Something over twenty of 

 the greedy bass tried to eat it in the, course of an hour's pull 

 along the "bonnets," the largest of which we threw back, 

 reserving a half-dozen of the little fellows for frying. And 

 here let us observe, at the known risk of being accused of 

 bad taste and worse judgment, that a black bass is about the 

 poorest fish for the pan or for fun that we know of. He 

 tastes as he smells, which is strong, and we have read with 

 astonishment of his game qualities in Northern waters ; for 

 never having found them to any extent in the denizens of 

 our Florida streams, we concluded that the same influence 

 which makes the resident of this "Land of Flowers " easy- 

 going had affected the bass. Of the twenty odd we took 

 seven weighed over nine pounds, and one seventeen, yet 

 there was little fight in them; leading up to the surface like 

 a stick, they would make a dash or two for freedom and 

 give up. Accustomed to catching the salt water fish of the 

 coast, drum, shoepshead, redfish, revalid, etc., there was no 

 sport in this son of fishing for us, and we took only enough 

 to eat after the first trial. 



It will be said, perhaps the fish were disgusted at the 

 weight and strength of our rig. Well, perhaps they were, 

 and some time we will try them with eight-ounce rod, 

 braided silk line and reel, but wo do not expect to find evi- 

 dence to change our opinion. 



We pitched our tent under a monster live oak near the 

 shore, whose mighty limbs spread sixty feet on every side 

 of the short and crooked trunk. Standing between and up 

 among the low-hanging branches were a dozen palmetto 

 trees, rough columns supporting the roof of our leafy 

 mansion. 



Pulling from our tree long festoons of gray moss we 

 filled our Lent with it half way to the ridge pole and rolled it 

 down for our bed. A rubber blanket, to keep down the 

 moisture, is advisable in this most luxurious eoueh. As our 

 lent was pitched on Sunday morning, it was resolved to do 

 no hunting, but to spend the day "looking around." 



The writer, carrying his "Winchester" (for self-protec- 

 tion) and riding a well broken pony, chose the lake side of 



the woods for his field of observation, and with interest 

 noted the flocks of plover that, seemingly fearless of danger, 

 would quietly feed until the pony was within a few feet of 

 them, when, with the unanimity of well drilled troops, they 

 would rise, wheel and settle a rod or two ahead, to repeat 

 the manoeuvre upon another near approach. English snipe 

 — best and sweetest of birds— iu countless numbers 

 their sort bills over the half dry mud at the lake's edge ; 

 flock niter dock of willctt rose with shrill whistle, while 

 sandpipers and yellow legs simply ran out of the way, evi- 

 dently unconscious that an enemy was near. An account of 

 the incidents of this trip has been purposely left, unwritten 

 for months, to allow the enthusiasm consequent upon a suc- 

 cessful hunt and the sight of acres— literally acres -of game 

 birds to subside in a measure, well knowing that the unvar- 

 nished truth with regard to theinumbers of birds seen would 

 sound like a terribly"" fishy " story to many readers unfa- 

 miliar with the wilds of Florida. It does seem a little like 

 an exaggerated yarn to say that for half a mile or more the 

 low bushes on one side of the lake were perfectly white 

 with the wood ibis (or gannets, as the bird is commonly 

 called here), and to tell of flocks of white curlew covering 

 acres of the grassy flats might injuriously affect our reputa- 

 tion for veracity. Tet we take these chances, and state that 

 we saw all these, and more too. The beautiful pink curlew 

 (roseate spoonbill) were also feeding about in large num- 

 bers, and seeming to value their fine feathers as highly as 

 we did, were more shy than their white cousins, keeping at 

 a safe distance from us, while other birds were not wild at 

 all. Wo except from this last statement the sandhill cranes. 

 Perhaps the other birds knew that it was Sunday morning, 

 and that they were not in danger, on that very account, from 

 the pony or his well-pleased rider who, in watching and 

 counting the rafts of ducks on the lake, scaring up tho birds, 

 noticing the lily-pads for future visits, etc., was enjoyimr in 

 anticipation more than the sport that was to come on~the 

 morrow, when the pony stopped, with ears pricked forward 

 and an air of observation generally that speedily 

 attention to the front. Gemini ! what a flock of turkeys- 

 One, two, three, five, nine— gone, and not half counted. 

 Op that, trail to the pond in the hammock. Down drops 

 the pony's trail rope and our observation party of one is as 

 speedily dismounted and transformed into a hunting party 

 as possible. Very strangely, the desire for knowledge of 

 the ground, to be quietly obtained, was changed in an in- 

 stant to a most positive wish for a turkey at dinner. The 

 caution of a veteran hunter, "Don't hurry," was borne in 

 mind (by the way, it's the best advice any hunter could re- 

 ceive), so after fifteen or twenty minutes of quiet walking 

 and crawling the edge of the pond was reached, and with it 

 a sight that would gladden any sportsman's heart. Nine- 

 teen turkeys, some feeding some sunning themselves, with 

 outspread wings, in tho saud, and all looking plump and 

 fat enough for our Sunday dinner. WhUe lying quietly be- 

 hind a log, the actions of the pompous " old gobbler " and 

 his family afforded a pleasant study, but, as the rifle was 

 brought to an aim, an old hen remarked " pect," which, be- 

 ing interpreted, is, run, scud, get out of this. She should 

 have spoken sooner, for the bullet reached its mark ere her 

 advice was followed, and one of her sisters laid down her 

 life that we might be fed. "Bad man, hunting on Sun- 

 day I" Admitted, without an argument ; but who could 

 resist such a chance for a good dinner. 



The following day our party divided up, for a varioty of 

 game, one taking a swamp six mdes from the lake and river, 

 for deer, two others trimmed the boat for ducks and sculled 

 about the lake, and another, with a resident hunter and his 

 dog, put out for the turkeys that had received attention on 

 the previous day. The flock was found near the same pond, 

 and were quickly flushed by the well-trained dog. Two 

 shots and but one turkey— score that oue for our "Cracker" 

 friend and his Kentucky rifle. Turkey shooting on the 

 wing is literally "big sport," with a dog that understands 

 the business. With shot guns it is too easy lo be much fun, 

 but with rifles it taxes ones quickness of eye and steadiness 

 of nerve fully enough to be interesting. An hour or so of 

 quiet hunting, enlivened by three successful shots at flying 

 gobblers, and tho bag was considered big enough for the 

 day, especially as we judged from the rapid firing on the 

 lake that ducks would be plenty for dinner. The ducking 

 party, however, met with but indifferent success, as the 

 ducks were wild and our dory not well adapted to the 

 sport. Shots at long range were indulged in without turning 

 the ducks much or killing many either — enough for dinner, 

 however. 



And here, for the satisfaction of the reader whose experi- 

 ence of wood life will enable him to appreciate tho bill of 

 fare at that four o'clock dinner, let- us give it; Black bass 

 end perch, fried, first course. Snipe and turkey breast, 

 fricasseed ; stewed turkey ; broiled teal ; BWeot potatoes, 

 boiled and fried ; Irish potatoes, ditto ; coffee noir. 



It would have been a fair dinner, even it' v.e. /WrcV. a 

 "camp appetite" with it; and indeed as we were all greatly 

 blessed in that respect, it was adjudged by the partj a first 

 class " spread." Not by all the party either, for tho absence 

 of venison from our bill of fare was duo to the absence of 

 our deer hunter, whose hungry condition we earnestly com- 

 miserate as we smoke our after dinner pipes ami see the sum 

 go down and darkness come on without his yet putting in 

 an appearance. 



