586 
FOREST AND STREAM 
November, 1920 
DAYS WITH THE FLORIDA QUAIL 
NATURE HAS PROVIDED FOR THE BOB WHITE OF THE PENINSULAR STATE A 
WARM, EQUABLE CLIMATE, PLENTY (OF RANGE AND [AN 'ABUNDANCE OF FOOD 
I F the quail hunter was to have a 
country arranged precisely as he 
would wish it, he could make but few 
improvements on Florida. The country 
is mostly open and easily accessible. 
He can g’o in a wagon almost anywhere, 
and there is always food for his horses 
and water for his dogs, besides plenty 
of fuel should he wish to boil coffee or 
prepare a meal. Nature intended Flor- 
ida for a paradise for the beautiful bob- 
white and has provided him with a warm, 
pleasant climate, plenty of range and 
cover and an abundance of food. Grass 
and weed seed abound and the bloom of 
the palmetto offers palatable food. Then 
there are berries and millions of bugs 
and insects, and with no cold weather 
and only the hawks, foxes and snakes to 
bother them, no wonder they thrive and 
increase in such incredible numbers. 
Where the saw palmettoes are thick 
and cover the ground in a dense tangle 
the hunting of course is hard, both for 
men and dogs, and it is often impossible 
to get through them with horse and 
wagon. Some danger is also attached, 
for one is liable to run across a rattle- 
snake or even step on it before aware 
of its presence. Many a good dog has 
lost its life in just such a place. High 
leather leggings are needed, both as de- 
fense against poisonous snakes and 
against the sharp, knife-like edges of the 
palmetto leaves which will soon ruin the 
best and strongest suit of hunting 
clothes. Dogs soon tire out in such 
places and are often so badly scratched 
and cut up as to be of no use for hunting 
for days at a time. 
The wild cactus 
also grows in thick 
places and its 
thorns make ugly, 
painful wounds in 
the dog’s feet. 
There is a spe- 
cies of quail pecu- 
liar to Texas and 
the Florida penin- 
sula. It does not 
differ greatly from 
the Northern bob- 
white save that it 
is smaller and 
darker. Climate is 
said to be respon- 
sible for this, but 
as one finds the old 
familiar Northern 
type flourishing 
alongside of it, I 
am inclined to 
think causes other 
than mere climatic 
conditions must be 
responsible for 
this slight differ- 
ence in their char- 
acteristics. 
By C. A. V. 
T HE favorite way of quail hunting 
here is to take a horse and light 
wagon and drive back into the open 
pine woods, or flat woods as it is locally 
called. Here you can drive along in the 
shade of the tall pines, inhale the pure, 
invigorating air and let your dogs work 
around on both sides of the wagon. When 
they locate a covey you have only to alight 
from the wagon, unrein your horse so as 
to let him eat grass, while you proceed 
to diminish the quail population. The 
shooting will be in the open, with no 
branches or bushes to obscure your aim, 
and you will have few excuses for not 
killing a fair bag of birds. 
Distance is deceiving, and although 
the country is open, you will have some 
trouble in finding your birds unless you 
have a good retriever. One great draw- 
back to quail shooting here is the trouble 
one has ter keep the game from spoiling. 
The warm weather and the quality of 
their food — palmetto berries especially — 
is responsible for this and the birds 
should be drawn soon after being shot. 
If you are out for the day a little bag 
of salt is not a bad thing to have along. 
Sprinkle a little over the cleaned birds 
and they will keep much better. 
During a wet season much of this back 
country is flooded with water and the 
birds are forced on the sand ridges. 
These ridges are often covered with 
bushes and low-branched spruce pine, 
and the shooting is more difficult than 
in the flat woods, but the sport is not 
diminished in the least. At these flood 
times there is some fine snipe shooting 
also, for they sometimes congregate here 
in countless thousands. As you go 
splashing along through the water you 
will hear an almost continual “Scape, 
scape” as the little birds get up around 
you. Shooting snipe is an art by itself. 
Just when you think you are holding your 
gun at the right spot and pull the trigger 
your bird will duck, dive or fly sidewise 
and your charge of shot will only punc- 
ture the thin air. We have had some 
tall fun with those birds in past winters 
and have enjoyed some fine eating, too, 
at their expense. 
A few years ago a party of four of 
us drove back into the country for a 
day’s sport. We found quail plentiful 
and enjoyed some fine shooting at both 
quail and snipe. One of the party stayed 
with the wagon and cleaned game and 
followed along after the balance of us. 
Once while I was at the wagon I heard 
several sandhill cranes calling from a 
nearby sawgrass pond. They soon dis- 
covered the wagon, and rising, flew di- 
rectly toward me. I was in an open 
prairie at the time and had no chance at 
concealment, but trusting to luck I 
squatted down in the grass and waited. 
On they came until almost within range, 
then seeing me they turned off, uttering 
their harsh and far-reaching cries all 
the while. Fortunately, the other two 
hunters were near a clump of palmettoes, 
and hearing the cranes coming, concealed 
themselves therein. When the birds were 
in easy range the men arose and watched 
them swing away in hurried flight. These 
cranes though numerous are very wary 
and exceedingly 
hard to approach. 
They are much 
sought after by 
bird-lovers. 
O NE quail hunt 
I had a few 
winters ago I 
remember both for 
its discomforts and 
its pleasures. My 
father, brother and 
myself set forth 
one rather gloomy 
afternoon for a 
long sand ridge 
seven miles back 
from the settle- 
ments. Our orig- 
inal intention was 
to hunt deer, but 
c i r c u m stances 
turned it into a 
quail hunt instead. 
We reached the 
site of one of our 
former camps and 
spread our tarpau- 
lin over the wagon, 
thus shielding our 
bedding, provisions, 
We would drive out to the open pine woods in a ngnt wagon. 
