FROM THE GAME FIELDS. 



43 



ON THE HOMOSASSA. 



Ocala, Fla. 



Editor Recreation: Recently my fa- 

 ther, uncle and I made a trip to the Homo- 

 sassa river which empties into the Gulf of 

 Mexico. I carried my gun along but found 

 little use for it. The first day we spent 

 the morning in trolling for sea trout 

 and red-fish, or channel bass. In the after- 

 noon we fished for sheepshead. We had 

 fair luck, catching all we wanted. If you 

 could see some of the catches made here, 

 I am afraid your " hog-pen " would have 

 to be enlarged. At noon we ate our lunch 

 on one of the numerous shell islands. 

 They consist of immense piles of oyster, 

 conch and clam shells, with occasional 

 bones of animals and pieces of ancient pot- 

 tery, and mark the spots where the Indians 

 formerly feasted on the products of these 

 waters. It struck me they must have had 

 remarkable capacities in the eating line, 

 to have devoured islands upon islands of 

 oysters. 



The next day we visited the head of the 

 river, where a wonderful spring is to be 

 seen. A stream of water, large enough to 

 float a good sized boat, wells up from a 

 rocky cavern of unknown depth. In the 

 clear water, we could see schools of man- 

 grove-snappers and black bass, or trout, as 

 they are called here. In the stream below 

 the spring were huge gar-pike and schools 

 of mullet. The surroundings were most 

 picturesque; immense groves of palmetto, 

 Cyprus, swamp maple, red cedar and vari- 

 eties of smaller palms abound on every 

 side. In the hummocks and swamps, deer, 

 bears, turkeys, wild-cats, raccoons and 

 opossums are to be found and on the ponds 

 and creeks ducks of many kinds are plen- 

 tiful during the winter. 



Homosassa is fast becoming a favorite 

 resort for sportsmen. It has 2 hotels which 

 are well patronized, a store and several 

 beautiful cottages occupied by pleasure and 

 health seekers during the winter. 



D. S. Williams, Jr. 



SOME TEXAS GAME HOGS. 



THE KIND THEY RAISE IN TEXAS. 



George Davis and Alex Shelton, of Aberfoyle, 

 went squirrel hunting this week. Striking camp 

 2 hours before dark, they went out and killed 53 

 squirrels. Next morning they got 13 in a short 

 time. Mr. Shelton killed 3 at one shot. This is 

 the most effective hunting we have heard of lately. 

 — Aberfoyle, Texas, paper. 



The editor calls it " effective hunting." 

 He doubtless meant to say " slaughter." 



WORK OF THE SPRING SHOOTERS. 



I send you a clipping from the Milwau- 

 kee Sentinel by which you will see the 

 game hogs are not all dead yet. I hope the 

 day is not far distant when it will be unlaw- 

 ful to shoot a duck in the spring. It is the 



height of folly to destroy these thousands 

 of ducks in this way. I sometimes think 

 it not only unwise but little less than a 

 crime against the next generation to de- 

 stroy these birds as they are being de- 

 stroyed. Our hope lies in the speedy pro- 

 hibition of spring shooting, in every State 

 in the Northwest. I am expecting great 

 things from the L. A. S., in this respect. 

 Have made a few good catches of trout 

 since the season opened. 



Rev. T. H. Dowr, Amherst, Wis. 



The clipping above referred to is as fol- 

 lows: 



This spring the slaughter of ducks in Wisconsin 

 has been mercilessly prosecuted, some Milwaukee 

 hunters having brought home as many as 150 birds 

 as the result of a week's shooting. On Lake Kosh- 

 konong thousands of canvasback ducks have been 

 killed by market hunters. On Poygan, Winne- 

 conne and Puckaway Lakes, bluebills and redheads 

 have been chased off their feeding and breeding 

 grounds, and in Waukesha county the ducks have 

 scarcely had an opportunity to breathe freely, so 

 sharp has been the pursuit of the hunters. In 

 Milwaukee bay the ducks were unusually numer- 

 ous, but the police were so vigilant that the hunt- 

 ers were unable to do any serious execution. 



" A law should be passed at the next session of 

 the legislature prohibiting spring shooting," said 

 a Milwaukee»sportsman yesterday while discussing 

 the effect of killing ducks during the breeding 

 season. " Every fall the complaint is made that 

 the duck shooting grows poorer and poorer with 

 each succeeding year, but the hunters seem to fail 

 to recognize the fact that they cannot eat their 

 cake and have it too. If the birds are molested in 

 the spring they are driven elsewhere if not killed, 

 and that is why I argue against shooting in the 

 early part of each year." 



— Milwaukee Sentinel. 



THE PEORIA BREED. 



The steamer Gazelle, which brought up the party of duck 

 hunters, from Duck Island, last Tuesday night unloaded 

 her cargo of game at 8 A. M. yesterday. A wagon loaded 

 to the guards with ducks represented the prowess of the 

 hunters. Ex-Mayor Allen and John Camphell both suc- 

 ceeded in bagging several large geese. 



Peoria (111.) "Transcript." 



Fortunately Allen is now e.r-Mayor. It 

 is greatly to the credit of the Peoria voters 

 that they did not continue this shoat in of- 

 fice. And this wagon load of ducks were 

 killed in the spring, too! Think what 

 clouds of young they would have raised if 

 allowed to go to the breeding grounds! 



SOME MORE ILLINOIS SHOATS. 



I hand you herewith a clipping from one 

 of our local newspapers: 



This morning the members of the Macon County Hunting 

 club arrived home from DeWitt, Ark., after an absence of 

 a month. In the party were Captain Milton Knapp. of 

 Greenwood, Ind. ; Harry Midkiff, S. D. May, W. T. Hott, 

 A. T. Summers of Decatur ; M. A. Harbert, Macon ; J. 

 P. Faris, Arthur Pritchett and Bert Faris of Niantic. There 

 was a great abundance of all kinds of game, and fishing was 

 so good that in one day the anglers had to bury 200 pounds 

 offish. The weather was hot. Four deer were killed and 

 lots of geese, ducks and squirrels. It was the eighth annual 

 trip for the party. 



These men have not even the common 

 excuse that they gave their game away. 

 They simply buried it. They do not belong 



