JTOE 12, 1890.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



407 



firmly refused to allow him to shoot a skunk in camp. So 

 thrusting our heads cautiously through the bushes we 

 shouted at Mr. Mephitis and invited him to go away, 

 which hint he was very slow to take. Final Ly, as the 

 cook became very urgent in his entreaties, he consented 

 slowly to retire into a crevice between some large rocks, 

 when the cook ungratefully procf eded to at once wall 

 him up. And unless he had diamond points on his claws 

 with which he could tunnel through rocks he is still 

 corked up there, for I assure you we did not disturb hini, 

 and peace reigned in the camp. Percyval. 



KILLING ANTELOPE FOR MARKET. 



HUNTING antelope is one thing, and describing how 

 it is done is another. In fact I don't believe it is 

 within the possibilities of the English language to furnish 

 words that would convey even to the most apt scholar 

 the exact methods adopted by successful hunters in bag- 

 ging this of all animals the most unreliable to kill. In 

 tact the hunter makes no definite calculation in advance 

 as to how he will proceed till he reaches the ground to be 

 hunted over. Almo?t all other animals have certain 

 fixed rules and methods of action when pursued. Tne 

 deer runs with the wind, keeping in ravines and out of 

 sight; his scent is so keen that no enemy can pursue him 

 at any reasonable distance, yet by tarrying two hours on 

 the trail the old hunter slips along and soon routs the 

 buck from his lair; then if quick enough he generally 

 gets his meat. The buffalo runs against the wind when 

 he is pur.sued, looking back, first with one eye then with 

 the other, as they could not keep the course they desire 

 to travel if they continuously kept at any one angle. The 

 same way when they walk, and lay out their trails, they 

 always follow a zigzag course, consequently it makes no 

 difference how thick and shaggy the locks thaj hang over 

 their thin pates, they can look sideways, descrying an 

 enemy either in the front or rear. 



The antelope runs on the same principle apparently as 

 the old Quaker prayed — "as the spirit moved him'" — and 

 never can be relied on in advance as to his course, unless 

 by some chance you find a second time the same number 

 on the same spot, with wind in the same direction, the 

 same kind of atmosphere, and every element the same as 

 before. Even then, nine times out of ten, they will fool 

 you in your calculations. Yet there are some things that 

 by long experience I found could be relied on m hunting 

 antelope. The most important fact to know is that they 

 cannot detect a moving object while they are in motion 

 themselves, in other words, a man can walk while they 

 are in motion and they cannot see that he moves; so by 

 seeing the antelope first and standing motionless while it 

 stands and looks, then moving as it moves; again take 

 the same position before he stops to look (which can 

 easily be done by close observation as to his motions), he 

 will not discover that you have changed your position, 

 but take you for a post, clump of weeds, or some harm- 

 less object. The same rule holds good while the animal 

 is feeding, and the hunter can safely proceed at all times 

 except while there is a head up and standing still. - It is 

 best to go as direct toward the animal as possible, with 

 head stooped forward. When within shooting distance, 

 the hunter should drop to the ground, rest a minute, and 

 select his mark. The dropping down should be done 

 while the animal is moving or feeding, as any motion 

 while they are standing still and looking will make the 

 hunter feel foolish as he sees his game skipping over the 

 prairie. This is what we call "still-hunting.'' 



I discarded this method years ago. It was tedious and 

 laborious, yet very sure and certain to an expert, but I 

 found by continual perseverance a much easier and more 

 speedy way of killing the antelope, for I have tried every 

 idea ever "suggested, and hundreds of original plans of 

 my own. The greyhound was thoroughly tried, and 

 after expending much patience, money and experience, 

 I found it took an almighty good greyhound to catch an 

 almighty poor antelope. 



The only satisfactory way of hunting this fleetest of all 

 animals is in a sleigh on the snow. I have also been 

 quite successful hunting in an open buggy and on horse- 

 back. The methods I have pursued are all my own that 

 I learned by hard work and awkwardness. Knowing 

 the antelope were unconscious of the motion of their 

 enemy while they themselves were moving- it was my 

 endeavor to close upon them while they were moving. 

 To get them in motion at a pace slow enough that I 

 could double up on them would be "nuts" for me; so by 

 continual experimenting I found by quietly following 

 them that after a herd had made two or three desperate 

 dashes away and no one pursued them they became care- 

 less and unconcerned. So when driving over the prairie 

 I would sight a herd perhaps a mile away, I would trot 

 my thoroughbred Kentucky horses c trelessly along, 

 guiding tbem so as to piss either to the right or left about 

 100yds. The antelope would stand and look at me until 

 I was perhaps within 100yds. ; then they would til dash 

 off as if they had been shot out of a cannon. My horses 

 trotted on at the same old trot, and especially were they 

 at that gait when the herd stopped to take observation, 

 if anything the gait had been slackened. Again I would 

 casually trot along as if to pass them by; again they 

 would dash away, but not with as much speed as before; 

 then while they ran I would let the horses glide along 

 after them on a fast trot until I saw them begin to 

 slacken; then by reining the horses up quickly they 

 would cjme down to the same old trot, and again I would, 

 quietly pretend to pass them by. By this time or after 

 another da-.h or two they would be convinced that there 

 was no enemy pursuing. Then they would go unconcern- 

 edly cantering off at right aogles. Now was the supreme 

 moment. As soon as all the herd had got in motion — 

 and never before — would I give a loose rein to the steeds 

 that had been taken for plugs by the keen-eyea and quick 

 witted antelopp. They perhaps would have from 200 to 

 800yds. the start, but by cutting in on them at an angle 

 with the speed of a wild engine, before they had gone 

 100yds. I was within 50 to 100yds. of them. My horses 

 were so well trained that at the word "whoa" they would 

 stop so quickly that more than once a breast-strap was 

 broken. 



While the sleigh, vehicle or horse, was yet in motion, 

 I was on the ground and had the balls whizzing after 

 the herd, which was well in a group I invariuMy killed 

 from one to three, the first shot. Tne balls flying low 

 would pass beyond the herd with such a whiz that it 

 always frightened the animals and set them ruoning at 

 right angles to me again. I always used a Winchester 



and would then pour in the lead as fast as a ten year-old 

 boy could count. All the while the bullets would be 

 whizzing beyond the herd, and that would press the an- 

 telope closer to the shooter. Then by the time my eleven 

 loads were all out, I would calculate on having from six 

 to ten antelope. I could not make certain calculations 

 on either getting up to the game, or even killing them, 

 when in good range while they flew past, until I had had 

 years of experience, but I finally got antelope shooting 

 down to a sciencp, and of late years I would figure as 

 confidently on a herd of antelope as a farmer will on going 

 out. to gather in his cattle; in fact, I can drive within 

 100yds. of any herd of antelope, on the plains, providing 

 the ground is not too rough to get a. horse over at a 

 reasonable canter. 



I do not know how many I could kill in one day, that 

 would depend altogether on how far I might be com- 

 pelled to go, and how numerous they were when I found 

 them. If I could find them as plentiful as I have seen 

 them in Kansas, I would not hesitate in contracting to 

 kill one hundred per day. When I made hunting a busi- 

 ness 1 always averaged from ten to twenty per day. To 

 be sure I could have killed many more, but never aimed 

 to kill a single animal that I could not dress and care for 

 on that day. I sold my meat and hides to commission 

 merchants, usually in Kansas City, Topeka, St. Louis and 

 Chicago. 



You once asked me how I could calculate how to shoot 

 an antelope running at right angles. Well, that is one 

 of the things that cannot be explained, experience alone 

 can teach, and it took rnanj lessons before I could rely 

 on anything of a certainty. Yet in later years I could 

 throw the Winchester a rod or two rods ahead of the 

 lightning velocity of the object with a feeling of assur- 

 ance that when I chose to pull the trigger an antelope 

 would roll and bound like a rubber ball. Should I pull 

 the trigger at the wrong moment I knew it was wrong 

 before the ball left the barrel of the gun. One rule 1 

 always kept in mind, i. e., I would always take a bead on 

 the antelope's knee, then move the gun ahead at the same 

 elevation, so that the ball and antelope would come in 

 contact. The reason for this is, everybody is more 

 liable to overshoot than fall short. The reason is a per- 

 son must always keep a full view of the movement and 

 velocity of the herd, calculating space, etc., and cannot 

 make as fine a bead as when the object is standing still. 



Not expecting to ever again make a business of killing 

 wild game as an occupation, I am willing others should 

 know how it was done, at least by one who always meant 

 to kill and hunt little. Old Timer. 



Garden City, Kansas. 



WOODCOCK AND SNIPE IN THE MIDDLE 

 WEST. 



ANY shooter living near the foot of Lake Michigan 

 need not go very far to find good woodcock shoot- 

 ing. I shall not say much as to Wisconsin and Ohio, 

 although there is good shooting in those States, but speak 

 more for the localities where I myself have hunted. 

 Along the St Joseph River, across the lake from Chicago, 

 there is remarkably fine ground for woodcock, and I 

 have known very good bags made there, although the 

 Michigan law, which opens the season at Sept. 1, of 

 course bars one from the best of the shooting. For other 

 localities, close to the city above named, I have found 

 the Des Plaines River, say between Summit and Willow 

 Springs, or from eleven to seventeen miles from the city, 

 very good territory, bags of one, two or three dozen hav- 

 ing been made there, not to say by just every one, but by 

 careful and well posted shooters. Fifty miles south, in 

 Indiana, there is grand woodcock shooting along the 

 Kankakee, varying with the season as to its locality. I 

 am well acquainted with the covers of this stream from 

 Long Ridge, forty miles above Water Valley, to Lake 

 Village, thirty-five miles below. The market-shooters 

 say the ground is still better further up, above Lone- 

 Ridge. 



The Illinois and Indiana law opens the woodcock sea- 

 son at July 1, This is late enough for so fiekle a bird, 

 but this woodcock law is the cause of the practical ex- 

 termination of the woodducks also, which breed on our 

 streams in the summer. You will see dozens of boxes 

 marked "woodcock," which are really shipments of 

 wtiodduck, killed by market-hunters who found them 

 while out after woodcock. A friend and I found a box 

 of nearly four dozen woodducks thus killed by a market- 

 shooter near Water Valley. These summer ducks are 

 young and innocent, and the market-hunters jump them 

 along the bayous and pot them. The market-nunters of 

 the Kankakee are also very destructive on the woodcock. 

 I knew two of tbem who in one day's floating down the 

 river killed ninety woodcock, for the most part potting 

 them as they sat along the bars near shore, as woodcock 

 are very fond of doing in the evening. 



Like many other birds, the woodcock feeds in one 

 place, and rests and roots in another. ' Birds are more or 

 less irregular in their hours of feed, like human beings. 

 I think young birds feed earlier and eat more, and con- 

 sequently feed later than old ones— just as young persons 

 do. Roughly speaking, and depending somewhat on the 

 day, woodcock will begin to feed about 4 o'clock in the 

 afternoon. They will feed all night, and perhaps as late 

 as y or 9 o'clock the next morning. In our country 

 birch, prickly ash, or puckerbrush seems to be about the 

 best feeding cover for them. The ground is more apt to 

 be damp there and they find worms near the puddles of 

 water. They will eat angle worms, but seem to prefer 

 the little red sand worms, an inch or so long. They find 

 these also on the baxs along the river. About two days 

 before or after the water has touched a certain line seems 

 to be the best time for the birds there. They follow the 

 line of the receding water when the grouud is soft. In 

 the evening they sometimes sit perched up along the 

 sunny side of the bars, and once a friend of mine called 

 my attention to two "owls" he saw squatted on the shore. 

 They were woodcock, all fluffed up and looking twice as 

 big as they were. The woodcock is a bird of shade and 

 dampness, and is not afraid of water. I have many 

 times seen them alight in shallow water, just enough to 

 cover their feet a little, and hunch themselves up, never 

 moving when the dog came up, but keeping that big eye 

 on him all the while. At such a time it is very hard for 

 the dog to locate the bird, and the latter will not fly 

 until nearly stepped on. It is smart enough to know 

 just what the water does for it by way of lessening itB 

 soent. 



, A woodcock, although it likes to be cool and quiet, also 

 likes to he near a warmish place sometimes. If you will 

 find a shady bit of cover on a cool day you will find the 

 birds on the hot or sunny side, but two or three yards 

 back from the line of the sunlight, though sometimes 

 further in. On a hot day you will find them on the 

 shady side, and it is funny enough they will u.-ually be 

 within a few yards inside "the line of shade, where they 

 get the desired temperature. 



Woodcock arrive in this latitude about March 25 to 

 March '61. They come in, like th<j snipe, on the bright 

 moonlight nights. They look around, locate their feed- 

 ing grounds, and with warm weather go to nesting. The 

 female woodcock seems to pluck off the feathers from her 

 breast and belly while sitting, whether to impart a directer 

 heat to the eggs or not I cannot say, but she seems to be 

 naked at that time. The nest is usually a mere hollow or 

 little indentation on a high ridge or dry ground. Market- 

 hunters tell me it is often made on a stump in low 

 ground. My friend, Mr. Douglass, tells me he found one 

 in Michigan which was ju-t a little hollow scraped on 

 top of an old rotten log. Unless forced to do so, the old 

 woodcock will not leave the young till they migrate 

 south. At migration time the old and young seem to 

 separate and go on each by itself that way. They usually 

 leave at about the first frost, though I have often killed 

 them much later. 



Woodcock moult about August 1, and I know a great 

 many shooters who think they then migrate, or leave 

 their old covers. This is not the case at all, if their feed- 

 ing grounds are not dried up, as I have more than once 

 had occasion to prove. Once I was down at Water Va'ley 

 with several friends at that season , and I started after 

 woodcock. I hunted close, for a long time without start- 

 ing a bird, and at length came on a little wet mud bar 

 covered with water-pepper. I put up a bird here, and 

 on examination I found the mud as lull of borings as it 

 could stick. I set to work here, and the birds began to 

 go up "Br-r-r-r-t! Br-r-r-r-t! all around me. I killed J5on 

 a little place here, and as many more in a cover near 

 there the following evening, much to the surprise of my 

 friends. Yet those birds were moulting, so much so that 

 I could see the white dust, or feather scales knocked out 

 of them when the shot struck them. The fact is, when 

 the birds are moulting, they are sore all over and they 

 don't stir a foot more than they have to. They don't run 

 and play, and when flushed by blundering on to them, 

 they just light and sit still, with their shoulders hunched 

 up and their long old bill stuck straight down in front of 

 them on the breast. They will watch a dog then till he 

 gets right on to them before they will fly, and you can 

 hardly kick them up. They are too sore to be frisking 

 about. That's all there is to the moulting-migration 

 story. 



In woodcock shooting, as the weather is hot and the 

 cover dense, light and strong clothing is most suitable. I 

 usually wear a suit of under-clothing, wLh overalls in- 

 stead of trousers, and a light canvas coat. A small, close 

 cap is best in crawling through the briers, etc. If I can 

 I get hold of an old pair of patent leather shoes, because 

 they don't draw when wet like ordinary leather. I cut 

 the shoes full of holes to let the water out. The overalls 

 I tie tight at the ankle. The mosquitoes a.re pretty bad, 

 etc.; some use tar and oil for them. 



I used to shoot a §400 gun on woodcock. This gun was 

 all shot out and scattered wonderfully. I now shoot a 

 16-gauge. A big, sawed-off, open, 10-gauge is a good 

 gun. You have got to have scatter. For a 10-gauge I 

 used 3drs. of powder and loz. of No, 9. I never used any 

 finer shot. I would not use black powder for woodcock 

 under any circumstances. It scares the birds more and 

 the smoke is bad. 



We have good woodcock shooting along the Kankakee, 

 if a bag of 30 to 40 birds a day means good shooting. 

 Doubtless there are many other streams which afford 

 good covers, but I have not found any so regular. The 

 puzzling habits of the bird have always been a favorite 

 study with me : and its abrupt and erratic flight and gen- 

 ally "difficult pursuit have for many years tantalized me 

 almost into thinking I would rather hunt it than any 

 other bird. 



The snipe shooter who lives in Illinois or Indiana is 

 even better off than the lover of woodcock. The snipe 

 grounds are so numerous that I dare not attempt general 

 mention. All the country about South Chicago, around 

 Calumet Lake, and clear over toward Englewood, is 

 natural snipe ground, or was once. The Little Calumet 

 is good also, and the "Feeder" and the "Sag," which work 

 off west toward the Des Plaines River, are often very good 

 territory, indeed, though much hunted. The Des Plaines 

 about bummit, and clear on down about Lamont and 

 Romeo is snipe territory of the first water. Lower down, 

 of course, the Kankakep offers its great and usually 

 abundant field. Tnere was too much water on the Kan- 

 kakee this spring. 



Last summer and fall, from July 28 to Nov. 15, I 

 killed 1,000 jacksnipe within eight miles of the center of 

 Chicago, and all within the present city limits. This was 

 between the old "Ten-mile Tavern" and Dauphin Station, 

 also between Auburn and Englewood, and from near the 

 end of the State street cable line on down two or three 

 miles south. 



The snipe is another peculiar bird. Snipe have two 

 grounds to live on, a feeding ground and a sunning 

 ground, which may be miles apart. Some people think 

 the snipe have a sort of playground sometimes, but this 

 is not the ease. A snipe's playground is in the air. They 

 take their exercise in the air. Even the females, full of 

 eggs, exercise so. I have tat and watched them pitch and 

 tumble that way in the air, making that strange boom- 

 ing "whistle," like a nail thrown in the air, all the time, 

 and then come straight back to same spot and go to feed- 

 ing or else bit down and rest. I think the noise in the 

 air is made by the wings. 



Irregularly speaking, snipe come on to the feeding 

 grounds at "about 4 or 5 in the evening. They feed all 

 night and into the next morning. Sometimes "on a good 

 marsh they seem to come in in flocks, and sometimes a 

 number of single birds scared up will band up into a flock 

 and either light further on or else go off. When much 

 disturbed in the morning they sometimes leave the marsh 

 and go to their sunning grounds. Their time for rest is 

 nominally from about ll A. M. till 4 P. M. They then 

 hunt out some dry and sunny ridse, and often sit there 

 in the short grass among the daisies and buttercups, and 

 1 bask in the sun, all cuduledup, with their bills held close 



