FROM THE GAME FIELDS. 



4i 



after waiting half an hour, I had the pleas- 

 ure of seeing the fox coming directly 

 toward me. When he was within 10 rods, 

 I took aim with my Parker hammerless, 

 and fired; and to my delight the fox 

 dropped lifeless, another trophy of our 

 day's sport. I waited for the hounds to 

 come up, then joined my companion and 

 we started for home. 



H. Groesbeck, Melrose, N. Y. 



HUNTING CRANES AT NIGHT. 



Gurnee, 111. 

 Editor Recreation: While hunting in 

 South Dakota, in 1885, I saw, one after- 

 noon late in the fall, a flock of sandhill 

 cranes alight near a small pond on the 

 level prairie. There being no cover, I 

 knew it would be difficult to get near them; 

 so decided to wait until night and if they 

 remained, to try and approach them then. 

 Night came and I started. I took an 18 

 gauge double barrel gun, loaded with 2^2 

 drams of powder and Y4 ounce of No. 4 

 shot. My setter, Major, went with me. I 

 walked as near the cranes as I thought I 

 could without alarming them. Then I 

 crawled on hands and knees for 80 rods, or 

 so, and after that lay flat on the ground 

 and pushed myself along with my toes. 

 The dog was at my feet crawling as close 

 to the ground as he could. He seemed to 

 think he must do just as I did. At last I 

 got to the edge of the pond. It was too 

 dark to see the cranes, but I could hear 

 them wading in the water. I tried to lo- 

 cate them near enough to take a chance 

 shot, but could not. They seemed to be 

 scattered all over the pond. I lay quiet 

 for a few minutes thinking what I should 

 do. Just then a prairie fire was started, by 

 some one 5 or 6 miles away. The glare 

 of the fire was reflected by the clouds, on 

 the surface of the pond, and by the dim 

 light I could see the great birds moving 

 about not more than 25 yards from me. 



1 pushed the muzzle of the little gun 

 through the grass and soon saw, across 

 the barrels, a dark object come in front of 

 me. I pulled the trigger and the stillness 

 of the night was broken by a roar and 

 the yell of the cranes. Major was up 

 in an instant and bounded into the wa- 

 ter. I was surprised to find I had secured 



2 birds with one shot. One was dead and 

 the other winged. He was a large fellow, 

 and made a good fight for his life. Major 

 soon killed him and brought both birds 

 ashore, and swinging them over my shoul- 

 der, I started for home, feeling amply re- 

 paid for my trouble. M. F. Schryver. 



PASADENA GUN CLUB. 



Pasadena, Cal. 

 Editor Recreation: California is noted 

 for big things in general and we have op- 

 portunity enough to kill more game than 

 we want if our hoggish propensities were 



not restrained by our better feelings. I 

 append a list of our shoots for the 5 open 

 months ending March 1st; and leave the 

 fraternity to judge if California sportsmen 

 don't average up pretty well with their 

 Eastern brethren on the hog question. 

 Southern California has an open winter, 

 and migrating ducks and geese visit us by 

 thousands. We have no game waterways 

 on the deltas, to make natural feeding 

 grounds for the birds. All our water 

 comes from artesian wells, which flow in- 

 cessantly and form modest streams; and 

 by careful damming and feeding, we are 

 enabled to make ponds of considerable size. 

 Hundreds of ponds of this kind have been 

 made by different clubs in the South. 



The principal clubs in and around Los 

 Angeles and Pasadena are the San Joaquin, 

 San Dominguez, Los Cerritos, Recreation 

 and Pasadena. The last controls 2,500 

 acres near Bixly and has improved the 

 grounds until they are as good as any 

 sportsman could wish. 



Mr. G. A. Gibbs is president and Joe 

 Welsh Secretary and Treasurer of the club. 



Year by year the shooting improves. We 

 employ a keeper and have a nice club house. 



The 15 members are congenial souls and 

 divided into Wednesday . and Saturday 

 shooters. 



We get canvasback, redheads, bluebills, 

 greenwing and cinnamon, teal, widgeon, 

 sprig, spoonbill, gadwall and mallard 

 ducks; also snipe, curlew and plover. The 

 following is a list of members, number of 

 shoots, and number of ducks shot: 



G. A. Gibbs 5 shoots, killed 105 ducks. 



I. Ingraham 17 shoots, killed 318 ducks. 



H. M. Staats 10 shoots, killed 177 ducks. 



Joe Blick 14 shoots, killed 289 ducks. 



F. J. Woodbury 6 shoots, killed 73 ducks. 



Ben Hahn 7 shoots, killed 123 ducks. 



T. Herman 17 shoots, killed 418 ducks. 



V. L. Ward 7 shoots, killed 123 ducks. 



Toe Welsh 14 shoots, killed 471 ducks. 



E. Kayser 10 shoots, killed 253 ducks. 



F. B. Wetherly 10 shoots, killed 186 ducks. 



L. Perrin 11 shoots, killed 61 ducks. 



W. H. Barry 3 shoots, killed 80 ducks. 



Charles Bratten . . .". 3 shoots, killed 30 ducks. 

 H. D. West 7 shoots, killed 91 ducks. 



You can judge whether we should be 

 classed as hogs or not. I think not. 



S. H. T. 



I think all who killed over 10 ducks, in 

 any one day, should be. — Editor. 



HUNTING BY MOONLIGHT. 



Seattle, Wash. 

 Editor Recreation: Having occasion 

 to visit Waterville early last September, I 

 persuaded my friend Ralph Crumbaugh to 

 accompany me on the trip. Waterville is 

 in the Big Bend country, so called from 

 the bend in the Columbia river, and near 

 the famous Lake Chelan. The route from 

 Ritzville to Waterville lies through 120 

 miles of an almost uninhabited section of 

 central Washington. While part of this 

 vast area is valuable only as grazing lands, 



