74 : 
IvIisLy 1 
LETTERS FROM SFORTSMESS. 
Spring. 
Peotoxb, III., April 16. 
Editor Rod ant) Gus: 
“Spring! spring! gentle sp^'ng!” has su'^ly come at last, and I 
am sure that everybody, every sportsman especially, is glad of it, 
andw li welcome itwi.hjoy. 
Gaggles of geese were flying to the “Sor'ard” all iay yesterday, 
and their honk, hook, could be heard far into the night. Early in 
the morning one of our respected fellow citizens, old I>oc F., was 
out with his gun. blazing away at every goose which passed over 
bis head. One man said he'd swear that Doc. fired at some geese 
wb'ch were a mile high. I won't vouch for ibe t*'ath of that but I 
saw h*m fire at some which were so high that they looked to be 
about the size of a robiu. As I sit WT'ting to-day, I can hear tne 
geese as they pass by and their cry makes me long to g'^asp my gun 
and give them a dose of single B. Wisps of snipe are also coming 
from the South, and the fields yesterday, near the town, resounded 
with the report of guns. A m m went out last night, and says that 
he shot a goose, though as it w’as so dark at the time, 1 doubt it, and 
two snipe, which he didn't pick up, because “they were good for 
nothing." I shall try and take a shot myself in a day or two, and 
if I'm fortunate enough to get any, I believe I shall pick them up, 
for 1 know they are good for sometbing. Now is the time when 
guns are brought out. Shooting suits are fished up from some- 
where, and the wives of those who are fortunate enough to have 
one, are importuned to “just sew a button on here, dear, and do it 
strong,'' or “to take a few stitches in this sleeve, and fix that pocket, 
and be sure and use strong thread," which means, so I am t jld by 
the wife of a sportsman, anything from large whip-cord to a half 
inch rope. Finally a good day comes and everything is in readiness 
and our sportsman sallies forth gun on his shoulder, dog at his 
heels, and very likely a small boy to carry the game, or look on, for 
some equally important service. He arrives at the grounds and 
proceeds to work. His dog quarters the ground dowm wind, and 
soon stands his eyes glistening and his body quivering with excite- 
ment as the hot scent rises to bis nostrils. His master walks up, 
and the birds rise, with a cry of “scape," “scape," but two of them 
fall, to rise no more. In this way he proceeds, with varying for- 
tune, until night comes, when he will probably find that be has a 
very good bag. I think that nothing is so aggravating for a young 
epoi^man, as to go snipe* shooting, and every time he misses bear 
that “scape," “scape," uttered as though in derision. One of my 
friends was with me at Rockford last year. He had one of Hie 
pocket-rifles, be^ng a long barreled p stol wUh a shoclde’.-rest, he 
was a qni'te good shot with it, a'^d always carried it when be went 
dnviag. We were on our way lo Ehda, one very wet, raiuy, d^sp- 
greeable day, and Ned as usnal, had the pistol w);bhiro. Just l>e^o.*e 
getting home he saw a lot o* sr'pe 'u a field; out of thew'agonbe 
gets, c’lmbs the fence, end begins popping away. The snipe would 
lise as he fi ed, fiy a ijti.'e way, and ibea lir’Qt. He fired at <»l»c 
bi~d, and was sore he had h*t it. as it did not fly ve'y we'!; so pfl«r 
it be le ns as fast as his legs would carry him, but he didn't catch it; 
In fact all he did get was a good welting, and pJeoty of pi.igueing 
from the boys. There is eve*/ prospect of good sport here nexi 
fall, for, although me winter has been a very cold one, I have heard 
of no cases where the birds have been frozen in this State. A 
fr.'end In Wi8Con«*n says that tbe qra'l {0 VirginianiiS) have disap- 
peared from his vicinity, and thinks they are either frozen or have 
left for some more congenial cl'me. 
I hope to be able to give yon a leaf from my diary in a short time. 
I wonder if that hint of yours about a '^sportsman's diary" was gen- 
•rally adopted ? Who has one, and how do you like it ? 1 don't 
know of any more advantageous way of spending a leisure half an 
hour than jotting dowm tbe incidents and new ideas that come to 
one every Lime one goes out. Next. T. Umbkllps. 
A Youthful Sporting Reminiscence. 
CoviNOTON. Ky., April, 8. 
Bpitob Rod akd Gtry: 
The region of country in which I reside does not afliord game of 
such a character, either as to quantity or variety, as to make it an 
unusually attractive one to the sportsman; and especially is this 
true, with reference to that class of sportsmen, uofortunately by 
no means a small one, who seem to make their only measure of tbe 
gratification and pleasure to be derived from a day’s shooting, tbe 
tangible results as indica ed by a full game-bag at night. The 
country in Its general character, being somew hat rongh and billy 
a day's walk is fatlgulug, and when you return home after a hard 
day's tramp, pretty well fagged out; the nett results, at least so far 
as shown by the game-bag. too often, seem to have an inverse ratio 
to the amount of labor expended. And yet, notwithstanding all this 
some of us hunt as persistently, and probably enjoy it as much, as 
others who are in some respects more favorably located. It is a 
blessed thing that the pleasure and satisfaction we derive from our 
varied sources of enjoyment are not proportionate either to the num- 
ber or moneyed value of those sources. We have all probably real- 
ized this in our exparieoce, and have felt tbe conviction that 
our pleasures and enjoyments have not kept pace with the increased 
facilities placed at our disposal. Though as yet a comparaC'vely 
young man, stiM, lapse o* time may, aad m my case perhaps deei^, 
lend enchantment to ret-ospective v’ews. And yet, with all due al- 
lowance for this melancholy sort of enchantment, it seems tome, 
that I have never as a man. derived such all absorbing del-ght from 
my spl't bamboo rod, silver reel and tackle mnniig geaeralJy in 
value to a figure that I wou^d ’a toy boy'sh days have regarded as 
fabulous for such th'ugs, as I did tweuty-five or thi.Ty years ago 
from an outfit costing five or ten cents. 
And as to shooting; I have since owned expensive guns, and have 
since had many a fa’r diy's bunt. But I do hot know that any gun I 
have owned afforded me the nnmiied delight aud pride that I felt 
when I fi^st borrowed from Major A — g, — my old acquaintance and 
neighbor— his long single barreled shot gun, and sallied forth to 
try my skill on any unfortunate robin or blackbird that chance might 
put in my way. I have, however, applied the wrong adjective to the 
birdji, my present recollection being that thoy manifested the most 
I profoand indifference for both me and the Major's firea*ra. Now. I 
have no idea, that there was anything about the Major’s gun likely 
to recommend it speciaUy in the eyes of a connoisseur, whether 
considered as a wora of art, or on its intrinsic merits. It must have 
been some five feet in leng b, longer, i ndeed than I w’as at that 
time, and renaered venerable by age and neglect, the tube, w'hich 
was a curiosity in its way, consisted of a wart-Jike excrescence, 
caused, I suppose by a transrormatiou the gnu had undergone at 
some earlier period of its history when it had been changed from a 
flint to a percussion lock: while the hammer had a most perverse 
disagreeable habit of unexpectedly sn.ipping down on the tube 
when it was special y desi:able to have it remain cocked, and a still 
more obbl-nate way of often failing to explode the cap when it 
could be induced to attempt it at the proper time. And yet. not- 
withstanding all these lirtle inconveniences and drawbacks, how I 
admired It. and how I and our negro boys— there were three of them 
about my age— turned it over and sighted along the barrel, and ex- 
patiated on its merits. And what wondrous feats of skill did we 
not think might be accomplished with suen instrumentality. How 
well do I remember the first woodcock I ever killed, which, by the 
way, was the first one I ever saw. The black boys were out catting 
briars in an old field not far from the house, and I was out with 
them— more for company than anything else — when suddenly our 
attention was called by the “snish, suish, suish," of the bird's 
wings as be rose close beside us. None of us knew at the time 
what it was; hot the bird ba\iiig dropped some fifty yards from 
where it rose, and being determined to effect its capture, I started at 
once toward the bouse to get the gun Our ideas of loading %'ere 
somewhat of the vaguest, the general conclusion, however, being 
that the larger the shot used the betti-r; aud so having procured the 
gun and some half dozen loads of shot that would have answered 
pretty well for wild goose shooting, I started for the field of com- 
bat, for I can call it nothing less, laboring under a tension of excite- 
ment such as I believe nothing less than an encounter with a grizzly 
could produce now Sacha thing as shooting on the wing was to 
me. then, one of the last, or rather one of the unknown 
and unheard of arts. Meantime the bird had ain perdue, 
the boys watching the place where it had settled, while I went for 
the gun. All being now ready, we began our approach, the boys 
armed with clods and stones, and I with Major A— g's venerable old 
fusee. Of course tbe idea was to find the enemy skulking on the 
ground, and dispatch him there if possible. 
Scanning the ground carefully, and making our approach in the 
most cautious mauaer, we were still unable to discern our game, and 
the first intimation we had of bis presence was given by the music 
of his wings as he took his departure amid general anathemas and a 
shower of clo< Is; for the negro boys were more familiar with their 
weapons than I with mine, and consequently had me at a disadvan- 
tage; however, the bud did not fly far, and having marked him 
down, we again surrounded him, and had a re-enactment of the pre- 
vious performance; and so we continued it round and round the 
field under a blazing summer sun, the perspiration running down 
and the excitement running up, until at last, through sheer weari- 
ness, as I now believe, but certainly with one leg broken, Mr. Wood- 
cock was caDtnred. Sandy, one of tbe negro boys, always claimed 
the honor of having given him the broken leg and so placed him 
hors de combat, but as I had managed to get two or three shots at 
him while on the ground, 1 protested against any such unfair conclu- 
sion, and having authority on my side, I at once enforced my decis 
ion by appropriating the bird, nem. con What a pleasure it was 
Chen to bold him in my hand and smooth do\«n the soft plumage, to 
admire the lustrous eyes and wonder at that extraordinary bill 
And then the satisfaction of making a more critical examination, 
and identifying him. This last, however, was not difficult, and as 
soon as 1 had gotten him in my bauds I knew him ; for during 
many years there had lain about the house a work published by 
Doughty in Philadelphia, way back in 1883 or 1634, calK*d the Cabi- 
net of Natural History and American Rural Sporr.s, illostrat das I 
then thought, and indeed st'll think, with some of tbe most truth- 
ful, accurate and lifelike, as well as finest colored plates of our 
game birds that i have ever seen. Among these was a very faithful 
likeness of the woodcock, and my familiarity with his portrait en- 
abled me at once to identify my prize. 
How often have 1, armed with the same trusty weapon, followed 
for boars up and down tbe meanderings of the little streamlet which 
ran through the fields ja^t north of the old schoolbonse, deluding 
my imagination with the cheerful expectation of bringing a snipe to 
bag, he being another of my ornitbologic.Hl friends whose acquaint- 
ance I had formed through the agency of the book mentioned long 
before I ever knew him personally or had ever enjoyed his gustatory 
excellences. How often have I returned home chilled through 
with the March wind, and drenched to the skin with its drizzle, but 
without the snipe; and yet ready to renew my effort again next day, 
perfectly satisfied if an occasional bird through hie bad and my good 
luck combined, became tbe reward of my labor and patience. 
But the times change and w’e change with them. 3Iajor A g 
has long since passed away, and the shade of the trustr firelock if 
nsc-d all, must be us d by the spooks in the happy hunting grounds. 
The black boys— even Sandy, who dared lay claim to my first wood- 
cock— took their departure for Canada many years before the war, 
the pleasures of homing with young master not being sufficient to 
overcome the instinct for Pberty. The Cabinet of Natural History' 
the work to which I ascribe any taste I have for that science was 
appropriated by some vandal soldier during the war; and even the 
old schoolbonse has changed with the lapse of years, and from being 
an object of unmitigated aversion has become one of pleasant and 
tender reminiscences. Josephls. 
Sniping in Arkansas 
Mestpuis, April 14. 
Eo.tor Rod aso Grx: 
Tbe glowing rect a’s of sD’ne-sbooting on the A»'kai)S.'8 pia’ries, 
indo-sed by the fabulous dozfps of ibe genus scotO/fOJO b»*Oi)gbt in 
by ourfel’ow-giinner.*, dec'ded the m t:era»'da 'oar'-'ster whom we 
will call ‘“^osloak" from tbe soMdiiy of his mnsc^esoii a tramp, a 
cashier who-e se'^ene digu y entitles him to the pairiciau patro- 
nymic “Thom." and your nar.ator procur'd excursion tickets to 
De Vail's Bluff: our only impediment to periect pleasure 
being the disappointment we all felt that Judge W. could not be 
with us, ashedidnoi^ know whether it would be a boy or a girl. 
Had this been the first love-offering, he might not have been so ve- 
hement in Christian ejaculations, bat our loss was his gain to tbe 
amount of 12 pounds. “ Mack," “Addie," and “ Blanche," com- 
pleted tbe party, and a raihoad ride of 87 miles, landed us at 11 
p. ai. at the portals of the hospitable Goss house. Tbe width of the 
Mississippi here will now compare writh the Amazon, surpassing the 
Potomac at onr Capitol city, being Irora bank to bank forty-three 
miles. Through this overflow the track has been raised from 
eight to twelve feet, and the gigantic cypresses seem mirrored as 
deep as their height in this inland sea, whose surface is the divid- 
ing area of two titanic similar forests. To tbe student of shades, 
shadows aud linear perspeciive, I leave the mysterious ana perfect 
photography of the hundred-foot livecak and its weird gray moss 
mantle, perfect in every minute similitude, in the shallow water 
nnderneath. Novel beauties await us in the btuehing morning as 
we drive in open wagon over the plain: the keen and, indeed, too 
eager range of tbe doge, astounded at the abundance and strange 
character of the game and the extraordinary size of this old field, 
the more than Tyrian dyes of the carpet of flowers we were speed- 
ing over, where blue and white and salmon and purple were richly 
embroidered on a velvety green But blood must staiu this broad 
imperial sheen, for see — the light red setter “Mack," seems to 
have grown a foot taller as he stands with head and tail high and 
beauteous, inspiring confidence from bis known truth, and sending 
the blood bounding like a mill race through every vein. “ Addie ” 
drops the instant she sees the kingly “ Mack" on game, while their 
junior, “Blanche'* crawls like a wave toward tbe point till an up- 
lifted hand checks her, and every nerve is in delightful tension. 
“Scape!" but there was no escape for that snipe, and merrily 
tbe ball opened and whirled along till sunset, w'hen we counted out 
one hundred aud sixty-nine Jack snipe beside sundry other feather. 
Among the game found in a day and a half, were pinnated grouse, 
golden plover, English and jack-snipe, quail and rail, deer, and a 
monster gobbler; “ Addie " getting a point on a deer who was “ re 
Cubans sub Ugminefagi,^'' lyingin griL&s &nd small brash where the 
strong westerly wind fanned him and kept away the pests known 
as buffalo gnats. Her fine breaking, intelligence and retrieving 
proved invaluable; very markedly to in approaching wary game in 
light cover. “ Toho!" and she is steady, staying at a given point 
as long as desired, and always bringing in the bird by the head, 
cheerily. But that bearded, black and gilded gobbler was the 
thorn that rankled in my side; snipe after snipe had fallen on either 
side and in the centre of the breasted marshy “ Little La Gru," till 
sport degenerated to slaughter, when again “ Addie " pointed, by a 
log with sedgy borders, and on moving toward her for the snipe 
shot I was astounded and agued by the thunderous flatter and 
“ put putting " of a twenty-seven pound, four ounce gobbler, at 
least that was his estimated weight, for his galvanic battery of wings 
fired my first bsrrcl wide of “the browTi" of him, and when compo- 
sure let bUn have tue left barrel under the right wing, he was full 
forty yards away aud niues couM but tickle him. Thereupon I 
vowed never to go a snipiog wiibout a ware cartridge In the left 
bower. On the knoi>s ine cock-groose w*ere booming like the sul- 
len murmur of a young bull, and former experienc < bad laugbt os 
the interesting fact to the ornitbologisi, the flesh of the young 
grouse is white, but when he matures it changes to a dark color. 
While plumage often c»»ange8 1 never knew any other bird to ueder- 
go Ibe above metamorphosis. Three deer galloped away on the 
prairie and when some hundreds of yards away turned and stared 
at us. Calling at M rs, W.'s we learned she and Gen. Greer were out 
flri ingdeer, aud on ibe cars that night we noticed a plump doe 
sent by one of their par^y lo a friend in Holly Springs. The lady 
is thoroughly accompl’shed with the gun and as an equestrienne. 
At one o'clock the second day. we had fifty-four snipe, and the en- 
tire bag was very near three hundred birds; but then we were struck 
by a squall severer than afflicted our home-bound comrade. Judge 
Volumes of water and the fiercest blasts of tbe pent winds assailed 
us as if to drive us from their preserved bowling grounds. For the 
nonce the cashier forgot his acrobatic plunge across the cruppers 
when our phaeton jumped a gulch, and he may have ceased patting 
the dark tri-colorof the Austrian flag photographed on his shoulder 
by his doable barreled kicker. For his central fire discovered hie 
softness and caromed on the humerus in a way he did despise. 
Looking back over the heads of eleven babies he was reminded of 
the courting days ol love's young dream. All vicissitudes are but 
tbe settin.? to the clustered jewels of tbe excursiou, and once at 
least we have had a sufficiency of shooting, and pleasant memories 
linger in the air. Guido. 
Spring Duck Shooting 
Clsvklaxd, 0., April 12. 
Editor Rod iXD Gm; 
1 cannot bnt ventnre some information to your correspondent and 
inquirer "A. W. S.,” who asks in yonr issue of the 10th Inst, why 
tbe game laws of onr state should not allow the shooting of ducks 
and geese in the spring, and who states that the present “Act" takes 
largely from the shooting of wdld-fowl in hie locality. I belier. It 
is a fact patent to the mind and experience of every sportsman on 
the lake shore, who has followed wild-fowl shooting to sny extent 
on our marshes, that the dacks on their arrival In the spring, and 
daring the stay of those who migrate farther north, are in a condi- 
tion of flesh such as makes them utterly unworthy of occupying 
their place upon the table. Furthermore, accompanying the migra- 
tory docks, are thousands of mallards, wood-dnek and teal, who 
stop with ns, bre«i in onr marshes, and furnish ns in September, 
perhaps the finest shooting of the season, and whose condition for 
the table is then nneicelled. Would it not then be manifestly sui- 
cidal on our part to advocate this spring shooting. That this may 
not appear as the expre3.«ion of my individual opinion and experi- 
ence, I will say that it is also the unqualified expression of onr city 
sportsmen’s clubs, and that the "Winnons Point Clnb,” who own 
upon Sandusky Bay nearly five square miles of marsh, entirely disap- 
prove of spring duck shooting, as do several other similar organlaa- 
tione which I might mention, located between this place and Toledo. 
While, however, the above holds good as to dnek shooting, I will also 
elate that the feeling is quite as unanimous, that geese do not nted 
spring protection, that our best, and almost our only opportunity for 
shooting them is at tliat time, and we live in hope of such legislative 
cnactmeut as will permit It. “Ls CaBT.” 
