Vild Goose Shooting on the Platte. 
i For two seasons I enjoyed such sport as but 
leldom falls to the lot of the average hunter, 
chen there was probably no other place, in the 
Jnited States at least, where this game was as 
plentiful as along the Platte River in Nebraska. 
The place chosen was near Grand Island, in 
vhich city I had a frie'nd who was an enthus- 
astic sportsman and knew the places along that 
ortuous stream, the Platte, which were most 
avored by the geese on their annual migration 
o the south. Some one who was familiar with 
t once said, “The Platte is a stream that is a 
housand miles long, a mile wide, and an inch 
eep,” a really good description at some seasons 
>f the year; but when the snow is melting in 
he spring, in the mountains of Colorado, and 
ilso when there have been heavy rainfalls near 
; ts source in the fall, it is often bank-full and 
nuch more than a mile wide, and the inch be- 
■omes many feet. Even when at its lowest 
Uage it is a dangerous stream to attempt to 
ord, on account of the quicksands. 
We went some eight miles below the town 
or our hunting, there being many large islands 
j, -overed with tall growths of willows in front 
>f which were wide stretches of water and sand- 
>ars, making good places to put out the de- 
•oys. Leaving Grand Island about 4:30 A. M. 
ve were driven to the place selected and our 
, Iriver instructed to return at dark, we stepped 
nto the small rowboat and were soon on 
j, he island and our boat securely hidden beneath 
: he overhanging willows. Choosing a position 
rear the upper end of the island, we made our 
irrangements for the day. The height of the 
Ijvillows made the digging of a pit or the con¬ 
struction of any form of blind unnecessary. 
Instead the tops of four of the willows were 
ied together and some twigs and leaves placed 
an top made a sufficient shelter for the two of 
ts sitting back to back and flat on the ground. 
Our decoys were placed in front, some in the 
.vater and some on the sandbar. These decoys 
Jlvere cut from sheet-iron in the shape of a goose 
! tnd painted white, then securely fastened to a 
j piece of pine board about a foot square, and 
to each a piece of heavy cord with an iron 
veight was attached, with which to anchor 
them. We used forty of these decoys and 
; mchored them so that the broad side was up 
; stream, most of the geese coming from that 
direction. 
As soon as the light had become sufficient to 
;ee moving objects the geese began flying, and 
aften circled a few times over our decoys be¬ 
fore resuming their flight. Geese with the 
wind favoring can fly from fifty to sixty miles 
m hour and in shooting considerable allowance 
j las to be made for this fact, particularly if the 
airds are flying directly toward the hunter, be¬ 
sides the feathers on the breast are so thick that 
: often times they will turn a charge of shot as 
heavy as Nrf. 4, and unless a shot chances to 
break a wing or goes through the head or neck, 
it will not bring them down. I found the best 
:ime to fire was after they had passed over my 
lead and were flying directly away from me, the 
shot then having a much better chance to pene- 
rate the feathers. The flight was not con- 
inuotis, sometimes an hour elapsing before an¬ 
other flock would appear in sight and many of 
hem would circle or a 1 isrht in the water or 
sandbars far above or below us. When they 
lid come, there were often three or four flocks 
n quick succession with sufficient intervals be¬ 
tween, so that our shots at the leaders did not 
ilarm those that were behind. 
At sight of the decoys the flocks that were 
lying the lowest would circle two or three times 
iver them, and hover as though to alight among 
hem, and at such times we generally got a 
i ?oose with each barrel. The temptation to 
. shoot was almost irresistible, for there is nothi¬ 
ng that is more deceiving as to distance than 
. ; o large a bird as a goose, and many a shot 
s fired where a rifle would be the only firearm 
hat would reach them and do effective work. 
In an article I read a few days ago, the writer 
idvises not to shoot unless the white spot under 
he throat of the Canada goose can be plainly 
seen. In my experience I have found it to be 
| i good rule not to fire until the eye of either 
II 
duck or goose can be plainly distinguished and 
then I was almost invariably sure of my bird. 
These good ideas, however, while they read 
well in print, are almost impossible for the 
average sportsman to follow; for when a large 
flock passes almost directly over you, especially 
if they have not been coming very fast for an 
hour or so, the anxiety makes the distance seem 
considerably less than it really is, and you throw 
rules to the winds, and your charge away. Pro¬ 
vided a shot or two chance to strike a wing and 
cripple the bird, occasional results follow that 
repay the chance taken. 
As an example, 1 was with a party of hunters 
one afternoon in a wagon driving to the hunt¬ 
ing ground, and when about five miles from 
town a large flock of sandhill cranes were seen 
in the distance winging a course that would 
bring them directly over our wagon, but at a 
great height, seemingly far beyond the reach 
of a shotgun. It chanced that I had in my shell 
pocket two or three of Ely wire cartridges, the 
shell having four drachms of powder and an 
ounce and a quarter of No. 4 shot inclosed in 
a conical wire cage with three buckshot at the 
apex. Hastily slipping one of these into my 
right-hand barrel just as the flock was almost 
directly overhead, I fired. For a moment there 
seemed to be no result, then one of the number 
began to fall, four or five feet at a time and 
then, by a vigorous use of its wings, it would 
remain stationary for a few minutes, then drop 
again until at last it reached the ground. A 
farmer who was passing at the time with a load 
of corn, with whom I was acquainted, when he 
reached town with his load gave the following 
wonderful account of the affair: “I saw the 
Captain shoot at a flock of cranes that were a 
mile high, and hit one, and it was an hour in 
falling to the ground.” 
At the time of which I am writing, however 
(1874), the geese had not become as gun-wise as 
they have of late years, and in the early morn¬ 
ing and late evening when they were anxious to 
find a resting place, either in the water or on 
a sandbar, were usually within fair gun range. 
Neither did the hunter have to take such pre¬ 
cautions to conceal himself; a hat of grass color 
and a seat on the ground among the willows, 
with the gun across his lap and remaining per¬ 
fectly motionless from the time the flock was 
sighted until they were within range, when the 
gun was quickly raised and discharged. An¬ 
other noticeable fact was that at that time 
there were comparatively few of the Canada 
variety among those shot. We two had thirty- 
eight geese and eight mallard ducks as the re¬ 
sult of our day’s shooting, of which only five 
were Canada geese, and thirty-three of the white 
variety. 
The author of “Shooting Wild Geese from a 
Mississippi Sandbar,” whom I quoted pre¬ 
viously. says, “The four of us had killed twenty- 
seven geese and five ducks (this during an after¬ 
noon), of which twenty-five were of the Canada 
variety, and two were white-fronted ones.” 
To gather our game and “tote” it to the boat 
and ferry it across to the bank took some time 
as well as labor; but when we had finished, a 
blast from the dog whistle brought our wagon, 
which had been waiting at a little distance from 
us, to the water’s edge and our game was 
transferred thereto. We put on our top coats, 
and lighting our brier-woods, started home¬ 
ward. The way seemed neither long, nor tire¬ 
some. I am sure the night’s sleep was sound 
and refreshing—to such a degree—that the next 
day found us on the self-same island, engaged 
in the same sport, with even better results than 
the day of which I have written. 
The Captain. 
Beginning April 13 the Forest and Stream will publish 
a short series of reminiscences of the wild Indian days of 
3865 by William T. Hamilton, the famous trapper, trader 
and sign talker, of Montana, and the author of “My Sixty 
Years on the Plains.” While the events described in 
Mr. Hamilton’s story, “The Council at Fort Benton,” 
took place nearly a quarter of a century after he first 
began to travel the then untrodden plains of the West, 
they also took place nearly a half a century ago. They 
describe the dangers of travel over the old plains, the 
ways of war parties, of hostile Indians, the arrogance of 
primitive man.' protected by his distance from a civilization 
of whose existence he was ignorant, and furnish a picture 
of wild frontier life such as every reader will be glad to 
have presented to him. 
An unusual sight was presented one day in 
January last, says the Billings (Mont.) Gazette, 
when two large farm wagons passed through the 
main streets of the city loaded with the car¬ 
casses of several elk that had been killed a day 
or two before several miles north of the city. 
The elk were the property of Paul McCormick 
and were being taken to his ranch, several miles 
west of the city, where they will be kept in cold 
storage for the present. 
Severay years ago Mr. McCormick conceived 
the idea of raising a large band of these noble 
animals on the grazing lands controlled by that 
gentleman, north of the city. The land was 
fenced and several of the male and female 
species were turned loose. As the years passed 
by the herd increased with numbers until a 
short time ago the band numbered 100 or more. 
Several were shot from time to time in order 
to provide steaks for the friends of Mr. Mc¬ 
Cormick, while during the State convention of 
the B. P. O. E. held last summer a number were 
slaughtered for the purpose of giving each 
visitor a barbecued elk sandwich. 
Since active construction work has been 
started on the Billings & Northern Railroad, 
which crosses a portion of the lands controlled 
by Mr. McCormick, the timid animals have be¬ 
come frightened and have scattered from their 
former feeding grounds in nearly every direc¬ 
tion, and most of the herd completely disap¬ 
peared from their former haunts. 
A short time ago Mr. McCormick decided to 
slaughter the few that still remained in that 
part of the country and he secured from At¬ 
torney-General Galen a decision to the effect 
that he could kill and dispose of the animals in 
any way that he saw fit, and as the herd was 
raised for private purposes Mr. Galen could 
not find any legal objection to the owner doing 
as he pleased with his property. 
Several hunters were at once sent out and 
the animals that are still found in the inclosure 
are being killed as rapidly as possible under the 
directions of the owner. Reports have reached 
the city that elk, supposed to be some of the 
same band, have been seen in the neighborhood 
of Livingston, while others have strayed south 
of Red Lodge and .as far east as Miles City. 
Mr. McCormick is prevented by law from killing 
the animals that have left the range controlled 
by him, but still exerts ownership over those 
that are left, and as a consequence many of his 
friends are enjoying many rich and juicy steaks 
of the genuine article. 
Game in the National Park. 
L. J. Lowndes, deputy game warden, re¬ 
turned Wednesday night from the Yellowstone 
Park, where he had been working with the Park 
officials in looking up some reported illegal 
killing of game outside the Park lines, says the 
Kalispell Inter-Lake. 
Mr. Lowndes spent a week in the Park and 
along the boundary, and says the trip is well 
worth taking at this time of the year by any 
one who enjoys seeing large numbers of wild 
game animals. The antelope are the only ani¬ 
mals that are fed regularly, and at Gardiner a 
herd of several hundred of the graceful animals 
can be seen feeding on the hay distributed for 
them. Elk also come down by hundreds, and a 
mountain sheep came racing down from the 
hills to get a chance at the scattered hay. They 
are unafraid, and pay no attention to men whom 
they may meet on the roads. 
Along the north line of the Park Mr. 
Lowndes says he started up hundreds of elk in 
a walk of a few miles, and in one place four 
wide trails, beaten down hard, showed where 
immense numbers of the animals had crossed 
the roads. He saw part of the herds that con¬ 
tained several hundred elk. 
At the post, where Mr. Lowndes stopped two 
days, deer came out of the woods in hundreds 
when a little hay was scattered on the parade 
ground, and the elk covered the hills. The park 
authorities estimate the number of elk in the 
Park at the present time at 75,000. 
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