684 
FOREST AND STREAM 
Nov. 30, 1912 
LUNCH. 
While it looked fine for chickens, it seemed to 
have none for us, so we drove about half a 
mile to some stacks of grain and the dogs 
began to make game as soon as they got out 
of the wagon. When the dogs went in, 
the birds went out from behind the stacks like 
a cyclone. Neither the doctor nor myself got 
a shot. Our friend got one and the covey flew 
a short distance to a corn field. The dogs went 
into the corn and we followed. I stayed along 
the outer edge of the corn and soon walked up 
a single bird, which I brought to the ground 
with my first shot. My companions were more 
successful and got three more. Then we drove 
about a mile to the largest stubble we had seen 
yet, and there was no corn near, allowing open 
shooting. Just as the dogs were getting out of 
the wagon a big white jack rabbit jumped up 
and one of the pointers, who had a weakness, 
went yelping after him. Then there was some 
fun. That old jack rabbit hopped off apparently 
on three legs. I thought he was crippled, but 
was informed that was his regular style of move¬ 
ment, and that the dog was stretching himself 
for all that he knew how. The jack just seemed 
to keep about fifty feet between him and the 
dog. His owner was fuming and fret¬ 
ting that he had thrashed that dog a dozen 
times for chasing jacks, and that he wouldn’t 
be any account the rest of the day, but I was 
enjoying the race. The jack made a kind of 
circle for about half a mile, apparently keeping 
the same distance between him and the dog. The 
dog was too busy to yelp now, but just to get 
that rabbit seemed to be his sole object, for that 
time at least. I thought the dog was going to 
get him, but the doctor informed me that the 
jack hadn’t let himself out yet, and sure enough 
just about then that jack seemed to have busi¬ 
ness somewhere else, and there looked to be like 
a gray, whitish streak across the open prairie, 
and the distance between him and the dog seemed 
to be about 200 yards in half a minute. The dog 
seemed to be taken by surprise and began to 
slow up, then stopped and after smelling around 
a little and looking in the direction the rabbit 
had gone, stood a couple of minutes as though 
thinking the matter over, then started to return 
to us, a disappointed and to be hoped a wiser 
dog. As his owner had said, he was all in, 
and we loaded him into the wagon for a rest. 
Taking the other dogs we went out on the big 
stubble. When near the middle of the field 
where the grass and stubble were unusually high, 
the dogs began giving signs of game and soon 
came to a point. We wanted to be careful now, 
as chickens had not been as plentiful as we had 
anticipated. As they were going up in the air 
pretty well bunched, I killed two with my first 
shot and got a long single with my second. The 
doctor made a nice double and our other com¬ 
panion got one. He fully explained the matter 
by saying the other bird wasn’t in the right place 
to stop the shot when he fired. The chickens 
scattered far and wide and we only got two more 
birds out of that covey. It was nearly noon, and 
getting very dry we thought of making for a 
grove a short distance away where there was an 
old house and a well where we could water our 
team. We had water in the wagon for the 
dogs. We thought it was about lunch time, and 
that grove looked good to us, so we drove over 
there. After we reached the well, and while 
one of our party was watering the horses and 
the doctor was arranging the lunch, the other 
gentleman said to me: “I see an old garden 
down below the house and no one has been 
living in this house for some time. We might 
start something down there.” So we started 
just to be gone a few minutes. Jack, the dog 
that had given the jack rabbit such a race, 
had got over his humiliating experience, 
and when we started he jumped out of the 
wagon, and away he went toward the old garden, 
the other dogs following him. When he came 
near the edge of the garden he came to a point, 
the other dogs backing beautifully. I said to 
my partner: “Will we call the other fellows?” 
He answered, “No.” That he was behind the 
score and here was his chance to get even. We 
went close up to the dog. I knew the birds 
must be close the way the dog acted. Also my 
companion said we were right on top of those 
birds, when out jumped another jack rabbit, but 
my friend ended his career with a load of No. 
6 shot and saved Jack another strenuous effort. 
We picked up the jack and went to interview 
the lunch. Then all took a good smoke and a 
rest, in the meantime trying to find out who was 
the most eligible •for the Ananias Club in tell¬ 
ing of past hunting experiences. 
We were then about twelve miles from town, 
but there was a lot of good hunting between us 
and West Bend. We thought in or near the 
corn fields the best place for that time of day. 
When we came to the corn, three of us scat¬ 
tered out, so we could just see each other, and 
with the dogs proceeded to comb that corn field, 
and we soon flushed a covey without the dogs 
knowing anything about it until the birds flew. 
None of us got a shot, as they raised too far in 
front of us. They didn’t fly far, so we got the dogs 
after them. The doctor and my other partner 
each got a chicken, but I didn't get a shot. We 
got the dogs out of the corn, and after driving 
some distance came to a wheat stubble, an ideal 
spot for chickens, but a little early in the after¬ 
noon to find them feeding. So two of us took 
one side and the doctor the other. We kept well 
out in the corn, letting the dogs go out on the 
stubble in the hope of finding the chickens com¬ 
ing to feed, but they were still in the corn, and 
I soon saw a large covey running from me too 
far away to shoot. 
The dogs came to a point right at the edge 
of the corn. Myself and partner moved up be¬ 
hind the dogs. That of course brought both us 
and the dogs between the birch and the corn. 
When they went up my friend killed two with 
his first barrel and missed with his second, while 
I made the neatest double I had made all day. 
The covey nearly all flew across the stubble for 
the corn on the other side, but the doctor was 
there and got two. If that doctor could handle 
medicine like he could handle that shotgun, I 
told him I would like to have him for my per¬ 
manent physician. We did not follow the 
chickens into the corn after the doctor shot, as 
it was getting along in the evening. We jumped 
into the wagon and drove quite a distance to a 
fine looking place on both sides of us. We de¬ 
cided to tie up the team and finish the day’s 
sport in the immediate vicinity, as it certainly 
looked like good ground, although I suggested 
that we had a reasonable bag if we didn’t want 
to be game hogs. Still we all seemed to want 
just that one more shot, and that is all we got. 
We saw a pond a short distance from the 
corn with a small patch of stubble near by. It 
proved to be the right place. The dogs soon 
came to a point. We all lined up. I was joking 
the doctor about his double this time, but the 
minute the birds raised such a fusillade was 
never heard before. After the roar of battle 
cleared away, there was just three birds to be 
found. The gentleman that had been driving 
claimed two of them. This didn’t leave many 
doubles for the rest of the crowd, but it made 
something to argue about on the way to town, 
although the doctor quietly informed me that he 
was positive he killed two of them. I replied 
with all the dignity I could command that as 
a matter of course I killed two myself. “Well,” 
said the doctor, “that being the case the other 
man just shot two large-sized holes in the atmos¬ 
phere.” We loaded ourselves, dogs, game and 
birds into the wagon and pulled for town. At 
a good trot with a good team and as fine a 
bunch of chickens as anyone would want to see, 
and as jolly a crowd of sportsmen as anyone 
could want to meet, who shall say it was not a 
great day’s sport. 
Hunting Sable Prohibited. 
According to the law of June 22, 1912, 
the hunting of sable will be prohibited in 
Asiatic Russia from Feb. 14, 1913, to Oct. 28, 
1916. It also is prohibited to sell, buy, trans¬ 
port, or export sable furs not stamped with a 
special stamp certifying that they were ob¬ 
tained before Feb 14. 1913. 
"BETWEEN THE BIRCH AND CORN.” 
