Oct. a, 1890.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



209 



shot at it, "NOj" he said, "but tny partner shot at the 

 cripple you killed 3 and I'll bring you yours," which he 

 did, and went splashing back, no doubt happy to think 

 that he and his "pard" had meat. In less than fifteen 

 minutes I had killed nine mallards, while I stood in the 

 boat. Then I got out, the water being about eighteen 

 inches deep, and began putting out my decoys. 



Then the fun began in earnest, for the ducks came, and 

 came to stay. Those I killed I placed on their breasts, 

 heads down, among my decoys, until I soon had quite a 

 respectable flock. The place I had selected proved to be 

 exactly the right spot, for the ducks did not want to light 

 on eitber side, but just where my decoys were, giving me 

 quite easy shooting. But (ah! there's a "but" in this case 

 too) these two shooters, of whom I have spoken, concluded 

 that they would be a little more sociable and come nearer, 

 one on the south and one on the north of me, both in the 

 flight; and such a racket as they kept up was only sur- 

 passed during "the late unpleasantness" by the boys in 

 blue and gray. Well, they had their fun and the ducks, 

 too, I guess; at least I didn't hear any fall. But they 

 about ruined the sport, for the only shots I had after they 

 came were at tho;e they did not see. I did not "want 

 the earth," but I did want that particular spot that day, 

 and for them to stay where they were. My practice has 

 always been, when shooting ducks, to get as far as pos- 

 sible from other shooters, so as not to spoil their sport, 

 nor have mine spoiled. All things have an end; so had 

 my day's shoot. Gathering up my decoys and placing 

 them in the bottom of the boat, I then gathered ana 

 counted my ducks, and found I had seventy -nine mal- 

 lards. ' KlZER. 



CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 



CHICAGO, 111., Sept. 19.— There are few portions of 

 the United States where the pinnated grouse was 

 ever more abundant or more naturally at home than was 

 once the case in the State of Illinois. The prairie chicken 

 was for a long time so numerous on the grass lands of 

 this State that it was fairly held in contempt. Under 

 any kind of decent treatment the bird would still be 

 here in all the plenty any sportsman could ask. It was 

 and is, in its maturity, a glorious game bird, and all the 

 world does not nold a finer one. The shooters of this 

 generation are not yet recovered from the old view of 

 the bird, based on its former plenty. The shooters of the 

 next generation will look upon it differently, and to bag 

 one of these grand grouse will in that time be held a feat 

 to be recouuted with pride in after years. Personally 

 having killed so many of these birds in younger days, 

 usually when they were only about two-thirds grown 

 and hardly more d.fficult of approach than barnyard 

 fowl, I for one had until lately cared little to go out after 

 prairie chickens; but a few fall days after these birds in 

 the corn, when they were full grown, strong and wary, 

 have changed me in this, as I doubt not they would 

 change any other, and I confess that now I stroke and 

 view admiringly each of these big brown fellows, which 

 a few months earlier in the season, or ten years earlier in 

 the race of civil iZ ition, would have been thrown care- 

 lessly into the game pockets. 



Of course the question has been, Where to go after 

 prairie chickens mis year. Mo ->t of our city m n who 

 want big snooting when they go out have tried Kansas. 

 Iowa, Minnesota or Dakota. Many of them are already 

 back disappointed. Since it is impossible for one to be 

 away more than a day or so at a time, and since it has of 

 late been a pleasure to try and discover as much as possible 

 of the game resources of the country lying close about this 

 city, I resolved to make my "opening day" hunt some- 

 where in Illinois, and to see whether any of the birds, 

 enough to amount to anything, were really left in the 

 country which was once so admirable for them. The 

 journey made was further from the city than last fall's 

 chicken hunt. We went then only eighty miles; this 

 time we went south of the city nearly twice that distance 

 and into the heart of central Illinois. Tne sequel proves 

 that the ground was well chosen, and if the shooters who 

 came back disappointed from their long Western trips 

 were satisfied with bags of a dozen or so good big birds a 

 day they certainly need never have gone so far as they 

 did. It is within my power to say that there are prairie 

 chickens in Illinois, and not only a few, but a plenty of 

 them — that is, for the locality we visited. If the Snpt. 15 

 law is retained and even halt way observed, there will be 

 more chickens yet next year, for in this State the birds 

 now take to the corn very generally by that date, and 

 they are big enough to take care of themselves. They 

 are not "floppers," it is sport to shoot them, and it takes 

 shooting to get tneni. 



My companion on this trip was C. F. S., of Pekin, 111. 

 We took the Santa Fe to that point, and drove eighteen 

 miles south, stopping at the farm of George Singley. We 

 found the stubbles about all plowed under, and as the 

 country is very closely cultivated, it was necessary to go 

 into the corn after them. Tne corn had not yet been 

 touched by frost, and stood rank and green, high above 

 our heads in most of the fields. We drove six miles fur- 

 ther down from Singley's place, and did not begin to hunt 

 until about 2:80 P. M. We went into numbers of corn- 

 fields, and we found chickens in every one, usually in 

 twos and threes. The dog we had was of no earthly use, 

 and Singley told us that with a good dog we should have 

 found a great many more, as the birds often stick pretty 

 close in the green corn. We killed eleven chickens, but 

 lost three of them. We saw in all about 175 birds, most 

 of them in one big pack we struck late in the evening. 

 The early plowing under of the stubbies in this locality, 

 taken with the Sept. 15 date, makes a good enough pro- 

 tection of the chickens here. Shooting before the season 

 opened had been very general all over this region. Sing- 

 ley had been shooting, as he openly confessed, and around 

 Manito, a little station a few miles distant, on the J. & S. 

 E. R. E. No regard whatever had been shown for the 

 law. I heard of a good many quail also that had been 

 killed. The man who shoots out of season is not usually 

 averse to potting a flock of quail. 



We left this place and drove to Manito after S.'s dog, 

 which he proclaimed in advance was everything that a 

 dog should be. He turned out to be about as worthless a 

 dog as J ever saw. During this entire hunt I did not see 

 him make one point or pay the least attention to game, 

 and he lost three winged birds for me alone, though taken 

 directly to where they fed. We heard one bird fluttering 

 in the com, but the dog could not find it. With a good 

 dog we should have had far better sport, 

 from Manito we drove about 80 miles southwest, to- 



ward what is known as the old marsh, a great strip of 

 country which was lately drained off thoroughly. This 

 marsh emptied into the Sangamon River, and geologists 

 say it was once the bottom of the outlet of Lake Michigan 

 into the Mississippi River. Where four years ago were 

 thousands of ducks and geese disporting on the wild 

 marsh, there are now flourishing farms and luxuriant 

 crops of grain. This is the richest land anywhere near 

 and the renters who have settled there are growing rich. 

 The corn grows extravagantly here. There remains also 

 hereabout some of the natural wild grass. We were now 

 upon what we might logically have known to be the 

 natural home of the prairie chickens—grass to breed in, 

 and plenty of food and cover. We were not so very far 

 from the great "Delavan prairie," which was once the 

 hunting ground of Bogardus. The shooters of Elkhart, 

 which iB still the rugged old Captain's home, often come 

 down into this country still to hunt. They, and their 

 kindred from other towns, have been so careless and un- 

 scrupulous that in the locality we struck many of the 

 farmers had combined and refused to allow any shooting 

 on their land. It is a pity that not all men who handle a 

 gun are gentlemen, and no one can blame a farmer for 

 closing his farm after having endured the visitations of 

 some of these fellows. We stopped by chance and took 

 dinner with Mr. J. H. Harvey, a shooting farmer who 

 had joined the others in this little league. We explained 

 to Mr. Harvey who we were and that we cared for only 

 a few birds. The result was that after some deliberation 

 he told we might put up with him over night and shoot 

 on his farm that afternoon. Mr. and Mrs. Harvey treated 

 us kindly , and we had a most pleasant stay herel It was 

 due only to their kindness that we enjoyed one of the 

 nicest little shoots I have ha-d for a long while, and I wish 

 to thank one good-hearted farmer who befriended one of 

 the craft. 



During that afternoon we found chickens about every- 

 where we went. Mr. Harvey could not stand the popping 

 of the guns, and early in the evening left his plow and 

 came out to join us. He reached us just in time, for we 

 were just having a talk with an irate on whose land we 

 had blundered by mistake. We left the latter gentleman 

 a good deal dazed, for he expected us to "talk back" a 

 little, or raise some objection to Iris putting us off the 

 farm. When we agreed to everything he said, apologized 

 and started at once for the fence which he said was his 

 line, he looked as though he didn't know what to make 

 of it. 



We found birds in every field here, and in large coveys. 

 They seemed to be all over the country. I should think 

 we started 200 or 300 birds that afternoon, great big splen- 

 did fellows. The corn was so dense and high that we 

 could not often get a shot as they burst up through the 

 stalks, but when we did knock down one of these old 

 thumpers, we felt pretty proud. Most of the birds were 

 killed at 45yds. A chicken tops the corn as he rises, and 

 if he happens to go straight down in a row the shooter 

 has something of a chance at him. It is hard shooting, 

 but a little practice at it helps, so that a shooter soon 

 comes to enjoy it. It is infinitely more sportsmanlike 

 than kicking the young birds out of the grass or stubble. 



The chickens on the country we hunted, stuck to the 

 corn till dark. Then a straggling shot or two near the 

 edge of a field would set a great body of them up off the 

 corn, and with great cackling and a tremendous whirring 

 and beating of their wings they would make off for their 

 roosting grounds on the plowed fields, the mowed ground, 

 or such narrow bits of stubble as remained unturned. 

 After dark we started a number from a stubble right near 

 the house. 



In all we bagged thirteen birds here to the two guns in 

 the afternoon. We killed eighteen. It was a very good 

 afternoon's sport, good enough for anybody. We got as 

 many birds as a man ought to want, and we did it in a 

 way by no means easy, and we had the further pleasure 

 of knowing plenty of birds v?eve left for the following 

 season. If the law is observed here, or if the little league 

 of farmers will persist, as I hopathey will, in keeping the 

 public out of this strip of country, there will be as good 

 shooting there next year as I should want. So much for 

 the prairie chicken. It is by no means extinct in Illinois. 

 Under any kind of fair treatment it never will be extinct 

 here. 



This ended my chicken hunt, and I was very well sat- 

 isfied with it. I now should have started back for home, 

 but I heard so much about the Spring Lake country, and 

 such stories of bass fishing and duck shooting, that I con- 

 cluded to go over there and see what there was to it, for 

 I had never heard any one in Chicago say a word about 

 it. The result may be the publishing of another locality 

 where a Chicago shooter can go and have a good time, 

 and I certainly cannot regret the visit made. 



We drove now a dozen miles or so to Forest City, on the 

 J. & S. E. R. R. Here we sent off our game to our friends, 

 and then drove about twelve miles more the cross roads 

 known as Radville, on the banks of the lake. The best 

 way to get to Spring Lake is to buy a ticket direct to 

 Manito, on the J. & S. E. R. R., and then get a team to 

 drive over the few miles across. 



Spring Lake is about sixteen miles below Pekin. It is 

 a parallel of the Illinois River, with which it is connected 

 by a Government canal. The Government dyke at the 

 end of the lake separates it from Clear Lake. Spring 

 Lake is eight or ten miles long, and hardly more than 

 100yds. wide for much of its length. It is spring- fed, but 

 along it lie miles of marsh and bog, which make excel- 

 lent duck and snipe grounds. It is one of the best waters 

 in the State for large-mouthed black bass, and since the 

 illegal nets have been taken out that fish has multiplied 

 wonderfully. Catches of fifty, sixty and seventy- five bass 

 a day had been made right along all the week we were 

 there. The fish ran small, and their taste was so muddy 

 I did not care to fish for them. By fishing a minnow 

 through the green scum of moss and slime which lay 

 about the snags in the shallow water, one could jerk out 

 about as many bass as he wanted; but I couldn't see any 

 fun in that and did not try it. Lawrence Hagny, on 

 whose floating hotel or cabin boat we stopped, caught 

 thirteen bass that way the morning we got there, and 

 another man got eight. The bass had been taking the 

 spoon very freely. In the early summer an angler could 

 go down there and load a boat by frog-casting, I have no 

 doubt. Casting with the free reel was something appar- 

 ently unheard of there. 



We took a skiff from Radville Landing down to 

 Hagny's cabin boat. Life on that cabin boat was an ex- 

 perience one is fortunate to have. Blue-wing teal, jack- 



snipe, yellowleg plover, black bass and frogs— what a 

 table for an epicure. The frogs were simply immense 

 and immensely good to eat; as white, sweet and delicious 

 as any meat could be. Hagny has a light boat with a 

 headlight, and makes a business of spearing frogs every 

 night. He often runs from twelve to seventeen dozen of 

 these big bullfrogs a night. They go mighty good on the 

 table. The cook on this cabin boat is a good one. The 

 beds are neat and clean. Everything is neat and clean. 

 The boat is open to the public at $1.50 a clay, and the man 

 who goes to Spring Lake and does not stop with Law- 

 rence Hagny is missing all the fun. Lawrence himself is 

 a quiet, gentlemanly man, a hard worker, one of these 

 fellows who know all about where to find the birds and 

 the fish. He is a good shot, a good companion, a good 

 guide and a white man generally. 



On Sept. 15 over five dozen teal and woodducks had 

 been killed on the marsh known as the "Mowing-Ground 

 Slough." We went up there but found the birds were 

 not working in there. We shot a couple of dozen yellow- 

 legs and snipe, went back to the boat and ate a most out- 

 rageous supper. In the morning we knew we ought to 

 go home, but we didn't. We wanted to take some teal 

 with us, and besides we couldn't catch any train to the 

 city. S. and I crossed the dead water lying between the 

 boat and a timbered flat with marshy shores. S. wan- 

 dered off after woodcock but only saw one, fell to shoot- 

 ing yellowlegs and at length ran out of shells, just as he 

 blundered across a fine bunch of jacksnipe. 1 We went 

 back there, but the jacks lay so close we could not get 

 very many of them up. I killed over sixty yellowlegs 

 and snipe in all. 



When we reported on board for dinner we found a 

 startling state of affairs. Lawrence was in with nine 

 ducks. He had been prospecting down below the dyke, 

 and had put out a body of about 3,000 teal and woodduck 

 from a slough where they were feeding, and had soon 

 shot away the few shells he had in his pocket. We all 

 knew what that meant, and as soon as possible we three 

 started down, and by 3 o'clock we were on stands and 

 shooting. We had no decoys, but the birds came in well, 

 and a prettier little duck shoot never was. Lawrence 

 was rather out of luck, and the two strange guns got 

 most of the birds. We laid forty-seven fine bluewings 

 and woodducks out on the deck that night. Fortune 

 favored us from the start on this trip, but this was the 

 best of it all. 



We shot till sundown, rowed a mile up to the dyke, 

 portaged over that and rowed another mile to the cabin 

 boat. Here we tried again to kill ourselves eating teal 

 and frogs, and at 9 o'clock began to bethink us of how we 

 were going to get home. We packed our traps into two 

 skiffs, pulled up in the dark a mile to Radville landing, 

 harnessed up our team , and after a starlight drive of two 

 hours were in Pekin, whence by rail we came to Chicago 

 in the mornfng. 



The trip that we took may have been an exceptionally 

 fortunate one. I am inclined to think it was, for we 

 heard at Pekin that nearly everybody else was coming in 

 without much game; but as it was, it certainly leaves a 

 very encouraging feeling about the possibilities of shoot- 

 ing in this State to day. We shipped all our chickens to 

 friends and left a number of ducks at Pekin, yet when we 

 got off the train we had all the game we could carry, and 

 the trip had certainly been very largely one of travel and 

 experiment. Perhaps not every shooter would have so 

 good a time, but I should not be much afraid to send a 

 friend down to Spring Lake for a few days. There is 

 pretty good mallard shooting there later on, but that de- 

 pends on the weather and a lot of other things. There 

 are a great many quail in the chicken country we hunted. 

 A week or two ran thus. I should think the jacksnipe 

 shooting at the lake would be prime. The bass fishing 

 will last through October. To "repeat, Manito, on the J. 

 & S. E. branch line from Pekin, is the point to make 

 for. 



On this trip I noticed a peculiarity of the bluewing teal 

 which never bothered me so much before. If winged, 

 they would dive at once, and in six inches of water I often . 

 had to give up birds after the most diligent search. I 

 marked one fellow dive at the edge of a lily pad, and 

 after a while went after him. I put my foot directly upon 

 his body in the water. He popped up, saw me, dived 

 again, and I never did get him. I think they sometimes 

 come up directly beneath the lily pads, and stick out their 

 bills in the bit of air at the center of the leaf. I lost six 

 teal in this shallow water, and where they got to I could 

 not tell. They are pretty smooth birds. 



Sept. 25— The indication that Illinois is one of the best 

 of the chicken States this year, is further supported by 

 the success Dick Turtle has just had on his late hunt near 

 Saybrook. not far from Bloomington, 111. He was accom- 

 panied by A. T. Hatfield, a trainer of that town, and the 

 two guns ran about 50 birds a day for three or four days. 

 They had a magnificent bag of birds. I understand it 

 was stubble shooting, however. 



Ed. Howard was low from his palace on Fox Lake to- 

 day. He reports a few ringbills in, but not much of a 

 northern flight yet. A good many snipe are in, but they 

 are using mostly out on the mud flats and are hard to get 

 at. 



"Slick" Sharp got 33 snipe the other day on Mak-saw-ba 

 marsh, and Billy Mussey and Hardy Richardson bagged 

 20 odd the same day. Jo Card, at the same club, has been 

 dividing his time between shooting and fishing, leaning to 

 the latter. He caught 32 magnificent bass in one day 

 last week, the largest oflbs., and all small-mouths. He 

 has also taken 6 wall-eyes, each averaging over 71bs. The 

 Kankakee is not only a shooting, but a fishing stream. 

 What with the Chicago & Atlantic, Cedar Lake, the Tippe- 

 canoe, the Kankakee, the lower Fox and the SpringLake 

 country, all of which have received original mention in 

 these columns, it seems fan- to believe that the southern 

 country is entitled to at least half the sporting patronage, 

 and far more notice than it has been receiving. 



Western sportsmen will note the fact that Mr. F. C. 

 Donald has resigned the position of general passtger 

 agent of the Chicago & Atlantic, the resignation not 

 to take effect until Oct. 1. Chicago shooters will insist 

 on Mr. Donald's staying right in Chicago, a fact which 

 his singularly able work on the C. & A. makes a foregone 

 conclusion. 



Mr. C. E. Rollins, president of the Wausaukee Club, is 

 lately back from a visit to the club house. He reports 

 that Mr. Hodson bad taken a 2*lbs. trout in the Eagle, 

 near his ranch, and that Miss Nina Baker, little daughter 

 of his tanch foreman, had taken one 20in. long. Mr, 



