AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS. 
17 
party to reach their respective stands, the drivers, with 
their [hounds, commence a few miles distant, and drive 
directly towards some of the stands, and in this way it 
occurs, that as many as five or six Deer are put in motion, 
which being pursued by the hounds, take different direc- 
tions, and in running off very frequently pass the hunters 
at their stands, and often fall victims to these artifices of 
their enemies. The gun employed generally is the double 
gun, charged with from twelve to twenty buckshot. 
Bears. It not unfrequently happens, that Bears are 
killed in the lower part of this state; indeed, every season 
furnishes some sport of this kind to the inhabitants of the 
lower counties. Latterly, they have increased in such 
numbers in particular neighbourhoods, as to become pests 
to the farmers, and as beach and chesnuts are rare in that 
part of New-Jersey, other articles of food must necessarily 
supply the deficiency of this mast for the Bears; conse- 
quently, they make frequent inroads on the corn-fields, 
hogstyes, and sheep-folds, and during the present fall, 
numbers are suspected to be residents of Cape May county, 
where many hogs and sheep have already been killed by 
them. And but a few days since, I was informed by a 
gentleman, who was returning from Cape May to Phila- 
delphia, that while crossing a large swamp a few miles from 
Tuckahoe, he saw two full grown Bears in the public high- 
way. 
This part of New-Jersey affords fine shelter for Bears: 
the interminable pines, extensive cedar swamps, and other 
immense thickets, are well adapted to shelter them from 
successful pursuit, and protect them in their torpid state, 
during the inclemencies of winter. Now and then, how- 
ever, some of these animals, possessing more temerity 
than their fellows, wander too far from their seclusion, and 
approach so near the settlements, that they are shot. A 
few years since a coloured man, who resided in Cape May 
county, shouldered his musket, and, accompanied by his 
hounds, entered a large pine swamp in search of deer. 
He had not proceeded far, before his dogs gave tongue, as 
he supposed, on the track of a deer, and after following 
the sounds for some distance he came up to his dogs, which 
appeared to have something at bay. Approaching more 
near, he discovered, sitting very unconcernedly, midway 
up a fallen pine tree, (which had lodged against another 
tree,) a large Black Bear. After eyeing Bruin for some 
time, and hesitating whether to shoot it or not, or per- 
haps afraid to make an attack single-handed, our adven- 
turer concluded it the safer part to return home for more 
assistance, which he accordingly did; but on coming back 
with reinforcement, he met the dogs, and found that the 
Bear had made off, and thereby lost a chance of success- 
fully signalizing himself, as his musket was heavily loaded 
E 
with buck-shot. Not so with old Mr. Finch and his son 
John. These celebrated hunters, so well known to the 
inhabitants of West Jersey, had been scouring some large 
swamps for deer, when the son entered a dense thicket, 
with the hope of arousing and shooting a deer; but the first, 
animal he encountered was a Bear, which he immediately 
shot, and, to his surprise, up sprung a second; this he at- 
tacked with his musket; but before he could despatch it, 
a third came to its assistance, which proved to be the 
mother of both of the former. Here our hunter was in a 
“straight betwixt two” — but, nothing daunted, he bela- 
boui'ed both so manfully with his musket, and calling at 
the same time to his father, that he succeeded in repelling 
their attacks, until the old man came up, who shot the 
mother, and they jointly despatched the third. 
Water Fowl. For the multitudes of Water Fowl, it is 
only necessary at this season of the year, and until spring, to 
visit the sea-side of New-Jersey, from Cape May to the 
highlands of Neversink. Here the shores teem with mil- 
lions, forming almost every variety of Water Birds, of 
which our continent can boast, such as Snipes, Plovers, 
Ducks, Brant, Geese, Swans, and sometimes Pelicans, and 
nearly all the Heron kind. Hither resort numbers of gun- 
ners, during the season of shooting, who press to the noted 
points, across which, thousands of these Water Fowl pass, 
in their migratory movements, and the success attending 
such excursions, is almost incredible. The inland fresh 
water ponds, too, of Cape May, are visited by numbers, 
chiefly of the Black Duck, at which places, gunners lay 
in ambush, and on the approach of the Sea Fowl to feed in 
the ponds, open a most destructive fire among the flocks, 
whereby hundreds are killed. The most noted points for 
shooting Ducks appear to be Squan, Manahawkin, Somers’ 
Point, and the neighbourhood of Cape May Court-House, 
as well as points adjacent to these. 
Thus, when we survey a district so replete with animals, 
which invite from neighbouring cities and states multitudes 
of sportsmen, we cannot help admiring the wisdom of the 
Legislature of New-Jersey, in enacting such laws, as will 
not only protect their own rights from aggression, but the 
innocent objects of their charge from undue destruction. 
Game has always been the special care of many govern- 
ments of the earth; and it is unnecessary to recur to the 
severity of the laws of Great Britain on this head, to 
prove the estimation in which game is there held; suffice it 
to say, that the punishment for their violation, is among 
the most severe of the penal code of England. I be- 
lieve, however, that New-Jersey is the only state in 
the Union, wherein the law affects the whole state. 
Other states have enacted laws, only to suit particular 
counties within their borders, upon the request of the 
