Jan. 7, 1911.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
15 
birds, sometimes only crippling them, breaking 
a leg or crippling a wing. It seems obvious that 
wild birds subjected to conditions like these are 
not fit—and will not for a year or two be fit—to 
take care of themselves and to propagate their 
kind. Persons who are purchasing these birds 
are perhaps not expected to pay for dead ones, 
but so far as practical use goes, many of those 
paid for and turned out might about as well be 
dead. 
Now to spend money for such material, or to 
spend much money for birds, even if in good 
condition, to be turned out to be shot, appears 
to me extravagant and wasteful. The aver¬ 
age gunner does not realize that the birds turned 
out cost as much as they do. He pays $1, we 
will say, for a license, and the other $2, $3 or $4 
paid for the European partridge come out of 
somebody else, and pass through the hands of 
the States, so that the individual gunner feels 
that what becomes of it does not concern him. 
The State authorities are not greatly to blame 
in the matter. They feel obliged to do what 
the gunners urge. But if a small fraction of the 
money expended for foreign birds had been de¬ 
voted to experimenting with our native species 
in trying to rear them in domestication, we 
should probably be far better off as concerns 
birds, and no worse off as regards money. 
While it is true that there have been many 
reports that European partridges turned out have 
done well and bred, people who have made a 
business of looking after the matter feel that 
these birds have not done well, and that in cases 
where they have bred, there has been little or 
no increase over the first brood, and the supply 
remains stationary or gradually dwindles away. 
Some States have spent large sums of money 
in purchasing game farms, where the authorities 
attempt to rear pheasants, European partridges 
and other foreign birds, but, so far as I am able 
to learn, the success with none of these exotic 
species has as yet been sufficient to justify the 
great sums spent on them. They continue to be 
called for, but this only shows the thoughtless¬ 
ness of those people who, hearing of great bags 
of game killed on estates in the old world, 
imagine that there must be something peculiar 
about these foreign birds, and that if brought 
here they will give better shooting than our 
native species.' An editorial which appeared not 
long ago in Forest and Stream dealt with the 
cost of shooting in England and was illuminat¬ 
ing. 
We in America would much better devote our 
attention to experimenting with our native birds, 
trying to rear them in confinement, and then 
turn them out in regions to which they belong, 
and where they would be obliged to contend only 
with the dangers to which their ancestors have 
always been exposed. 
It seems to me extraordinary that the Ameri¬ 
cans, who- profess to be practical people, should 
consent to see their money frittered away on 
such foolish schemes as this. When we see this 
happening, we are not surprised at the success 
which crowns the efforts of the various get- 
rich-quick concerns that prey on the public. 
Orange. 
The Forest and Stream may he obtained, from 
any newsdealer on order. Ask your dealer to 
supply you regularly. 
Hunting in Southwest Texas. 
After a few days’ planning and preparation, a 
party consisting of W. E. Wills, R. G. Decker, 
Percy Reid and myself, with Severanio' Rivera, 
a Mexican cook, left Corpus Christi, Texas, on 
Oct. 31. At San Diego, a station fifty miles 
west, by previous arrangement, Lee Ademi met 
us with a big wagon and buggy; when we were 
ready to start for the Ademi ranch, the mules 
furnishing amusement for the people of San 
Diego by stalling. The mules listened to a few 
encouraging words and made a new start and 
we camped for the night at a lake twelve miles 
out. 
In the morning Lee Ademi and Dr. Wills 
took the buggy and went on to the ranch after 
a wagon, as the country was hilly and the load 
BRINGING A BUCK TO CAMP. 
too much for the mules. Our wagon also 
started, leaving Percy and myself behind to 
hunt for ducks on the lake. After getting sev¬ 
eral, we overtook the wagon and learned that 
Decker had shot at a coyote but did not get 
him, while “Bill,” as we called our cook, had 
seen several deer. 
During the day we killed a number of bob- 
white and California quail, and met three 
typical ranchmen with their six-shooters in 
view and eyeing us with suspicion. Just as we 
were about to camp for the night, Lee returned 
with another wagon and team. While un¬ 
hitching, some one struck a match and off 
went the old tired mules in a hundred-yard 
dash, but as they were tied together, they were 
easily caught. 
As we sat around the camp-fire, Bill gave us 
an account of some of his adventures with 
javelins [peccaries] and declared he had heard 
them snapping their teeth in the brush around 
the camp. At three o’clock we started for the 
ranch and about sunrise Bill wounded a large 
buck but did not get him. 
Arrived at the ranch about noon, we were 
met by Gordon Ademi, who had killed a fat 
calf and had a good ranch dinner prepared for 
us and everybody did justice to the occasion. 
While there, Mr. Ademi told us of his father’s 
early days on the ranch, his trouble with the 
cattle thieves, and the murder by cattle thieves 
of his two sons, Walter and Milus. 
This ranch, owned by Mrs. Wm. Ademi, con¬ 
tains thirteen thousand acres of land. It is 
mostly hilly with a few miles of prairie around 
the ranch house, and two creeks running 
through it. The hills are covered with brush. 
After dinner we went to the branding pens, 
which furnished amusement for the cowboys 
and ourselves. To the person who has never 
seen the cowboys branding, it is certainly worth 
the price of admission. Later we went to our 
camping ground near the ranch. We pitched 
our tent on a creek, near which could be found 
deer, javelins, coyotes, badgers, raccoons, quail, 
rattlesnakes, wildcats and a few Mexican lions. 
We made an early start the next morning. 
Dr. Wills armed with a gun and Decker, Percy 
and myself with rifles, but luck was against us; 
Dr. Wills saw three deer and Percy four, but 
neither fired a shot. However, Dr. Wills and 
Bill caught some nice fish for supper. 
I had not hunted more than fifteen minutes 
the next day, when I heard a deer run and 
stop. Being too anxious to see him, I stepped 
on a dry limb and away he went. Later I 
heard another one, and profiting by my former 
experience, I sat down and waited. A small 
buck went sneaking through the brush, and 
when the smoke had cleared away, all hands 
came up and decided it was a case of suicide— 
the buck was so poor. I saw another buck 
which I shot. He was not large, but was in 
good condition. • 
One day we hunted quail. Percy and Decker 
started a coyote and shot him six times. He 
pitched like a broncho, but the shot were too 
small to stop him. When we had killed about 
fifty quail we returned to camp. 
One morning early Bill and I started for the 
hills, leaving the others asleep; there is no 
place like the hills to hunt. After leaving Bill, 
I saw a doe and heard a buck whistle; but the 
brush was too thick to see them. I was hunt¬ 
ing on the side of a hill covered with prickly 
pear and brush, a favorite place for deer, when 
out jumped the largest buck I ever saw. I 
fired three shots before he got out of sight, 
and knowing that he was hard hit^ followed him 
about seventy-five yards, when he fell. After 
Bill came we opened the buck, put him on a 
pole and started for camp; but a mile was our 
limit, so we hung him up and went to the camp 
for help. 
The next morning, before day, we were 
awakened by hearing Bill sing out, “The 
coyotes stole the deer liver!” Decker had not 
killed a deer, so he left early with Dr. Wills. 
Percy’s feet were tender, so he slept. At noon 
we heard a shot. Going out, we found Dr. 
Wills and Decker each with a deer. Decker 
killed his running early in the morning, marked 
the place where he left it and went after an¬ 
other. As the brush was thick and it was very 
foggy, he could not find his deer and started 
home. Hearing Dr. Wills shoot, he went to 
him and found him lost with a deer. On their 
way to camp Decker found his mark and deer. 
Tuesday morning Lee came over to hunt with 
us. He went to the hills, and when he re- 
