174 
FOREST AND STREAM 
April, 1920 
SOME POINTS ON FLORIDA HUNTING 
PRACTICAL HINTS FOR THE SPORTSMAN ON THE WAYS AND MEANS OF OBTAIN- 
ING GAME AMONG THE PINES AND PALMETTOES OF THE SOUTH— PART TWO 
By W. M. GARLINGTON 
F LORIDA’S salt water fishing grounds 
are well known, and annually many 
fishermen from all over the country 
have the time of their lives fishing for 
the giant tarpon, the sailfish, the bar- 
racuda, the flounder, the mullet, the 
kingfish and many other species. In ad- 
dition to this variety, the fisherman can 
have fine sport with the black bass in 
the fresh water lakes inland. I am not 
much of a salt water fisherman, but I 
do like to fish for bass, and, while not 
always having the best of luck, I have 
managed to catch a good many of them. 
On a few occasions I have participated 
in what might be termed a “killing.” 
That is to say, I was out after them when 
everything was right and they struck 
right and left, like hungry wolves, the 
result being that it did not take long to 
catch ail that anyone had any earthly 
ui for. 
i. well remember my first introduction 
to the Florida bass. In company with 
T. P. Carpenter, of Bartow, Florida, 
I went out to Crooked Lake, some twenty 
odd miles from Bartow, for my first 
experience with a casting rod. We were 
out from shore about an hour and twenty 
minutes, and in that time we landed 
twenty-six of the beauties, some of them 
running over five pounds. In addition to 
that, I lost six fish in trying to get them 
into the boat after bringing them along- 
side. That was five years ago; I have 
had lots of experience in getting fish into 
the boat since that time. 
Florida bass run larger than their 
Northern brothers, but have not so much 
fight, nor is their flesh quite so firm. 
This is because the water in the lakes is 
always at a uniform, mild temperature 
throughout the year, and does not impart 
the pep as does the cold water of the 
Northern lakes. But they will afford 
plenty of sport to the angler, and are 
fine eating, as well. 
I have never been fortunate enough 
to land a fish weighing over 5% pounds, 
though I have caught a good many weigh- 
ing around 4 and 4% pounds. But there 
are many caught down there that run 
from 7% to 10 pounds. For eating pur- 
poses I prefer a fish weighing about 
lYz lbs. 
My fishing outfit is not very elaborate, 
but is good enough to do business with, 
as each article has been selected with 
an eye to good hard service. I use a 4% 
foot steel casting rod equipped with 
double grip handle, and all agate guides 
and tip. While the expert will throw 
up his hands in horror at this, it is 
really all that is needed for casting from 
a boat where the casts are rarely over 
35 yards, and usually around 20 to 25 
yards. Furthermore, this rod will stand 
lots of strain before it gives away. My 
reel is a 100 yard capacity “Marhoff” 
level winder. I have become wedded to 
A string of Florida bass 
the level winder for the reason that since 
I began using it I am no longer troubled 
with backlashes. With the ordinary type 
reel they were the bane of my existence, 
and there is no doubt but what the even 
spooling of the line, as it is retrieved by 
the level winder, serves to eliminate this 
trouble to a very marked degree. Of 
course, the expert can cast with any kind 
of reel, but I am not an expert. 
For casting, the old standby plugs — 
the silver, the green,- the white, the 
rainbow and the bronze are mostly used. 
In addition to these I always had a 
couple of “Jim Dandies” in my kit. For 
trolling, the No. 2 spinner is a killer 
when pulled close to the edges of the lily 
pads and the grass islands. I have also 
caught fish by casting this bait. For 
bobbing, a gang of two hooks with pork 
rind is the favorite, though live minnow 
are used for this style of fishing as well. 
There are baits and baits; sometimes 
bass will take one kind, at other times 
another, then there are times when it 
seems as though nothing will tempt them 
to strike. Conversely, there are times 
when they will strike anything you throw 
at them. 
I am not so keen about fishing as I 
am about hunting. When they are strik- 
ing I become enthused over the sport, but 
when they are not striking, and the sun 
gets hot, and the mosquitoes bad, well — 
then I am not so strong for it. How- 
ever, I am always ready to go whenever 
the opportunity offers to mix it up with 
such a sporty fish as Bre’r Bass. 
T HERE is one great drawback to 
Florida hunting — the heat, and it is 
not always possible to get your meat 
home without salting it. While salted 
venison is pretty good eating it does not 
compare with fresh meat. Salt draws 
the juices and toughens it to some extent. 
For some reason the forequarters of a 
deer do not seem to crust over as do the 
hams after exposure to the air. There- 
fore, the usual way of fixing a deer in 
Florida, among the hunters and guides 
with whom I am acquainted, is to salt the 
fores lightly, directly after cutting up the 
carcass, preserving the saddle for fresh 
meat. Some hunters smoke all of their 
venison before bringing it home, thereby 
making certain that it will keep a long 
time. Many a hunter lays in his win- 
ter’s supply of meat in this manner, and 
as the law allows a hunter 3 deer per 
season it is possible to do it. 
Some hunters, in hot weather, dust the 
hams with flour, or meal, and hang them 
in the coolest place possible in order to 
get them home fresh. Others use spice 
and pepper, while some use spice, pepper 
and salt. I prefer the spice and pepper 
method, using a mixture of 5 parts pep- 
per to 4 parts spice. Even in cold 
weather I like to treat a ham in this 
fashion : Use a mixture of 6 parts black 
pepper and 1 part spice. Split the 
muscles just above the hock and rub in 
some of the mixture, then rub a bit over 
the meat where the cut was made in 
separating the ham from the carcass, and 
finish off by taking the pepper can and 
sprinkling pepper thickly all over the 
ham. This will fix your ham up in fine 
fashion and will impart a flavor not 
otherwise found — a piquancy you might 
call it. A ham so treated and hung in 
the cold for a week will yield steaks that 
will melt in your mouth, when properly 
cooked. Be sure to use real black pepper 
— the pungent, full strength kind, and 
not the, half-white kind which has no 
flavor to speak of. 
Personally, I prefer venison broiled to 
any other style of cooking it, with frying 
as a second choice. It is also mighty 
good when roasted to a turn. I know of 
nothing better than a nicely broiled and 
well seasoned steak, or chop, cut from a 
young buck, served hot with a bit of 
butter smeared over it. 
The wild turkey is a hard bird to get 
home fresh, or get home at all, in hot 
weather. They sour very quickly and 
unless you are very careful they will go 
bad. They should be drawn immediately 
after being killed, and the crop removed. 
The abdominal cavity should be carefully 
cleaned out and then wiped dry, and a 
bit of salt thrown into the cavity. Char- 
coal taken from the fire, powdered up 
and packed into the bill, into the cavities 
from whence the eyes have been removed, 
and some wrapped in a rag and stuffed 
into the abdominal cavity will serve to 
preserve your turkey, or, for that matter, 
any other kind of bird. 
There is but one real way to cook a 
wild turkey, and that is to roast it as you 
would a domestic fowl. However, in 
camp this cannot be done very easily, 
