A SQUIRREL HUNT IN WEST VIRGINIA. 



THOMAS H. HUDSON. 



At 4 o'clock the farmer's wife called us 

 to breakfast. My brother Will and I were 

 spending a week at a farm house in West 

 Virginia, hunting and fishing. As soon as 

 a hearty breakfast was eaten, we were off 

 for the woods, not more than l / 2 mile 

 distant. Will decided to try his luck at the 

 right of the road, while I took the woods 

 on the left. It was the first week of Sep- 

 tember, hickory nuts were plentiful, the 

 squirrels were cutting, and we knew we 

 could kill all we wanted. 



Day was just breaking when I climbed 

 the fence along the woods. It was a per- 

 fect morning for squirrels. Soon I heard 

 a nut drop and saw a squirrel. 



I got within good shooting distance 

 where I could see the cuttings fall and the 

 branches shake as a squirrel would rush 

 out after a nut; but they all seemed to be 

 on the opposite side of the tree. Finally, as 

 one reached out his fore paws for a nut, I 

 fired. Down he came, dead before he 

 struck the ground. 



In a little while I had 2 more shots, and 

 2 more squirrels on the ground. As soon 

 as I was sure there were no more on the 

 tree I picked up those I had and started on. 

 I was seemingly as noiseless as a cat, but 

 somehow a squirrel heard me and began 

 to bark. Others took it up and for a while 

 the woods resounded. I waited until the 

 barking stopped. Then I started for the 

 nearest squirrel but he saw me and was off 

 before I could get a shot. 



I went a little farther and killed one cut- 

 ting acorns. I could hear the squirrels mak- 

 ing a terrible noise on a hickory standing 

 at the head of a small hollow. I was on 

 the lower side of the tree and they looked 

 no larger than chipmunks. As I stood 



there watching, one came down the tree 

 with a nut in his mouth, jumped off on a 

 small sapling and began to finish his break- 

 fast. In a remarkably short time the nut 

 was cleaned, the shell cut open with those 

 sharp front teeth and the kernel eaten. 

 Almost before I knew it the squirrel was 

 half way up the hickory again. I had 

 waited long enough. Before the report of 

 the gun had died away he was on the 

 ground as dead as a mackerel. Three more 

 shots and 3 more squirrels came tumbling 

 through branches. In a few minutes I saw 

 a squirrel coming up an old rail fence on 

 the top of the hill. He was a long dis- 

 tance away so I patiently waited for him 

 to get nearer; but that squirrel wasn't 

 doomed to die that day. Just as I was 

 thinking of stopping him he jumped off on 

 the ether side of the fence and took down 

 through the woods at a 2 minute gait. The 

 next one I killed in a small hickory that 

 stood at the edge of a second piece of 

 woods. A little farther on I heard the 

 cuttings falling at a great rate. I was al- 

 most at the tree from which the sound 

 came, when a grouse, startled by the slight 

 noise I made, burst through the woods and 

 was gone like a flash. The squirrels heard 

 the noise and scampered wildly off from 

 that tree. I got under the tree and let 

 them have it. I emptied my gun and pnt 

 2 without any trouble, but before I could 

 load again they were all out of sight. 



I felt perfectly satisfied to quit then. 

 When I got out of the woods I called Will. 

 He had bagged 9. We soon reached the 

 farm house as hungry as bears, but the 

 dinner we got made us feel ready for an- 

 other hunt the next day. 



A FUTURE FAMILY OF QUAILS. 



