Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, December 28, 1902, Page 27

Delights and Disappointments of Shooting in the South (Copyright, 1902, by Martha McCulloch doves and probably 500 partridges Part- turbed A good light breech-loader, right grows in a season to a covey With even Unless frost holds off very late Williams ) ridge is there the common name of quail. barrel straight, left choke bored, with No it is host the shadow of game protection he increases to walt for it before s tting out after pact ING shooting in the south may be The true partridge is called pheasant and 6 shot, and strong, quick burning powder, and multiplies until his sort possesses the ||-.Iuv\ ,“r”” )17'.|~ elm;. \le.r v‘” w‘wl broadly divided into marsh and Is so rare except in the mountain regions are requisite for the best sport. The gun !..Il¥l| In the far south-—Louisiana and \\Illl!ln), \rlln 8 arc L.nl- I-‘», wa ’\yl ]m \ upland shooting Strict marsh that it is practically bevond consideration. ner does not build a blind, but melts as Texas ‘In brings up two broods each &ea After |h.v‘ ro; Llhm .u,,‘".‘ ‘..m'. x,v\ : ,: shooting is confined to rice Like the wild turkey it has disappeared nearly as he may into some such familiar son (. ngratefully he is allowed to be r:l\u' at a mu..l.| ‘.n\\ At‘H ;IIH‘LH un” \ birds, also called reed birde; before the axe rather than the rifle object as a tree trunk, a salt trough or even there for six “,“m'hq of the year, from Sep- from (l|'<n h‘vv|~~~‘~1 x|. .u" AN -\I; ,y:| 4.'1 blackbirds and sora, or Virginia rail All Cleared flelds might furnish it food in a fodder stack. He stands stock still beside 1.;,{,]..~|~ to April . whe nl t 1'-\ 'LII.‘I ~I|"|vn |:‘\l ”(-‘:, igh th these come in flights of thousands to feed greater plenty than ever, but they have it and until he moves the doves regard him Cock partridges, wherever they range are .nn‘x.n shooting m.«\‘ w done afo i i I 1 8 s part of the landscape Mormons of the first water, never satisfied Wind and weather have much to do with in brackish marshes—notably those which taken away the svivan solitude within a part scay ) i it il » J he Potomac flats—and spread about which it breeds and flourishee, In flight their wings make a soft, flittery with less than two wives, and often boast- the sportsman’s luck « ctober sun e e ries [ tidews r I- s froy Doves increase almost inversely to the noise suggestive of their cooing Some- ing three All the wives lay in a common shine with brisk south winds, alway ::: I';;::::::,:::‘\h:”'h:_“'f.‘l\:,"fi':]‘:: ‘::;:l,'""\ et spread ¢ corn land, although v(h--_\' are times the noise is loud enough to warn nest, take turns at ll|'4u|~‘|||vx{.(ll-" eges and sends the birds to the woods Cold |I|I|V|.| | 3 " i wood bir haunting and nesting there. the gunner of birds approaching behind him at caring for the young There may be westers, with snow and slect he hind, hurry » Rk s haYORTAYs '-Ir S T The nest is a ramshackle affair, a thin or right over his head. They fly deter- as many as thirty Ccggs In a nest. Twenty them to the depths of the thickest most l b SoeLLB L, LUk bl huddle of ‘u‘rln‘l stic lw.‘\\ith no pretense minedly. There is no wheeling and circling is more usual tangled cover available Ideal weather is :;I e mlms- “h“(‘-””u it !!“‘ < of lining, set high or low beside a big before th vy settle Sometimes e line of The young run from the nest almost as mild and moist, with just the faintest stir bt LR L UL B AT bough, according to the builder's caprice. flight is straight; at others it describes a soq n as hatched and know enough by the of wind and a sky dappled all over with SR b UL LI Ll \'n;\\i‘vhlw'mnhnu it svflices to rear two wide curve Whatever the line the flight time they are dry to hide at their mother's low gray clouds Upon such a day scent AR S sl Wit L ;l»ll'l' |4]‘|:n||~ cach ~~>|<u;1 The first eggs {itsolf is strong and amazingly swift. Thus note of warning They are so near the Jljes well, holds well, coveys are easily At el R PaWSR And Halion Are |~I'w| in M .ln h‘ .n-\ S‘n-plunlntl‘ when a novice at dove shooting commonly puts color of earth and leaves that the least found and when found do not fly too far bt GLER B ‘]w]'» Sres :Im ‘\vlllr'b(i|n!“lu'gi‘|u\' 1’[:. first lwl'll;‘ls are his pellets ten to fifteen yards behind the small inequality gives them shelter from hefor going down Moreover, they com ‘ L ““fl”““: ”p. e LLRRY “"\!'lN 2 as plump and well fv;;lh-‘rn d as their elders game intrusive eyee They run very swiftly and monly go down well together, not In a best shooting is always further in = A< oRI% (o) BRCAINOaRINL A from them Dove shooting is by no means easy. Two in a little while begin to fly, although they compact bunch, it is true, but in such mareh, in fact, especlally if the marsh s when it comes to eating. Young birds are clean kills to a miss is good work Only are not strong on the wing until they are g Ighborhood that there is 1ittle trouble e R W SR as tender enough for broiling; old ones 1equire exceptional wing shots under oxceptional full grown and full foathered in marking the place. With true doge and S0 DRLIAE WhY 18 tolsHoot from & mamell (i Bei Tas San parboiled and then conditions bring down five birds in six. Because of the Morman tendency there are game. xomd popy and good company the Sy O HERIOT DG REAWBTERY WAIE WERY L (lLes e pie Some years, when doves are very plenty, gencrally bachelor birds who skuik by tWos game I8 well worth the eandlo. ang P el L LR L L G T e there s excellent sport in walking them up and threes about the hedgerow thicket all game bag beam in the middle. It is propelled by a killing. This is not so easy. Doves fly and shooting over standing corn In gsuch summer long. The best early shooting is Whether smooth or rough coated dogs long pole tipped with an fron V PIONE. girongly. They are, further, so armored shooting a bird to three shots should con- had by beating these thickets, The unmated which is to save the pole from going too 1 are best depends very much on the ground in feathers that a glancing shot is apt to tent the most ambitious Cornfield shoot- birds fly strongly and are in prime con deep in mud. Local boatmen own and pole and a little bit on the weather For hunt be turned aside. The best place for dove ing, just after frost, is apt to yield game dition a fortnight be |‘..|. the coveys are Ing stubble clean of brush or brake upon the boats, charging for their use $2 a tide shooting is beside a stream or pond close of many sorts. Curlew plover, upland at their best After frost the lone birde This is not exorbitant in consideration of = a mild day a good pointer is beyond per to a corn field. The doves feed in the corn, plover, rail, wild turkey, snipe and wood- and coveys coalesce adventure the dog He will outpoint, out pecking much grain, and searching out cock may all be brought to bag particularly The coveys have a habit of going back last and outwork a couple of rough coats more of the field's insect haunters. They if the corn land lies in a river bottom toward the nest at night They seldom In tangle or over rocks, with an edgo trieve it before crabs and crawfish steal it are so fond of corn that in winter they will Notwithstanding, partridges so predomi- sleep fifty yards off the nest spot, unlesa wind blowing, It is just the other way. The boats go in on a rising tide and creep through nooks and crannies in crib nate that to the greater number of south they have been so much disturbed there There the shaggy fellow comes to his stay only until it turns, for at low tide walls to feast on it, and then lack the wit country gunners bird shooting means part- that they have abandoned the pl: alto- 4 edom and reigns undisputed. the craft would rest on the muddy bot- i, o0 back the way they came. Sometimes ridge shooting. The reason is patent. Bob- gether. Local attachment is {reme ndously the work involved in poling and the extra vigilance required to mark game and re- b - £ Shooting partridges in tall timber is tom. As the prow parts reeds, rushes (ney qie of thirst when thus entrapped. white, the cheery, has all sorts of ground strong with them, They will often cling to the supreme test of marksmanship. H and Wild oats, the birds feeding there in Oftener they end by having their necka for his own. He flourishes riotously in a field through a whole scason, .Ihjnlp;h hh”,[ who waits to aim In such conditions in flocks rise after Hn: manner of rwulh-:rwl wrung in punishment of their greed. wheat land; he feeds fat on corn ground, at every week. They will migrate In a varlably wastes his powder fndeed. : for clouds. Markmanship is hardly required Doves fly commonly in company; there he thrives in the meadow fastnesses, and mass if threatened with a scarcity of their to bring them down in dozens. All qQne g 1d veteh @1l bird shooting aim needs must be {n- may be two or twenty in a flight. They he makes his own the thicket and the favorite focd, the peas of the wild vetch stinctive. Partridges fly through the trees needs to do is to shoot quickly in their choose out special watering places and wood. He Is, further, so noble an ex- and the seed of a weed called, locally, rag as crookedly as a rabbit runs his maze come to them steadily, unless much dis- pansionist. A single family, unhindered, weed wheeling and twisting in and out between trunks and at last often settling upon a high branch, secure from the best dog's nose direction hefore they get out of range They fly like lightning, especially the rice birds Rail, which is a little larger than rice birds, are sometimes shot upland and fa: from the coast line. They are, indeed, not unknown in the great middle region west of the Appalachians, where no doubt they have lagged from flights between gulf marshes and those of the great lakes. In their season the marsh birds are delicate eating tender and tempting morse Is, almost smothered in their own fat. yp‘niw and woodcock, which almost haunt hese tidal marshes, are found pretty well everywhere there is rich, damp, low ground In the main they are migratory, though a moiety breed near their feeding haunts in the river valleys of the middle south. The breeding is early and by mid- July the broods are as strong on the wing as the parent birds They quickly learn that woods are a haven of refuge Coveys which have been flushed once or twice within a week almost invariably fly to or toward the woods at a subsequent flushing They learn also (o seck shelter in posted fields where there | little shooting, going back from them when the danger is past to feed and roost in their familiar haunts The gunner who chances upon such a covey in good ground has the chance of sport indeed There are few more thrilling slghts or sounds than its quick explosive up-whirring, its burring flight and long wheel down wind. The wheeling will com: most likely just before the birds go down At the earliest flushing a covey almost never scatters; the safety of division is part of experience's bitter wisdom Onee well scatered it is not easy to put the birds up again Their power of withholding scent when frightened is a mooted point, but the fact is indisputable that dogs of the keenest nose Old river bottom meadows abounding in sloughs and thickets are the best ground for either snipe or woodcock. Both birds feed late, from sundown well forward. Throughout the hours of strong sunshine they keep so close that the best dogs often fail to nose them out. Once up they fly 80 strong that there is a great chance of missing, especially as both have a most erratic line of flight. It is no fedat at all for a lively woodcock to make himself a feathered corkscrew, twisting his way through the air. Still, with patience, able to trail a covey hours after it has passed or come to a dead point with the game fifty yards away, often fail to find a bird until the gunner has walked it up and dropped it as it flow Many things make for or against a good bird season Wet weather at hatching 1 time or shortly after often slays its thou markmanship and a bit of luck ome may sands of fluffy brown balls Drouth, by make a fair bag, but rarely a big one. Summer shooting is practiceq in many places, but the best sport comes in au- tumn, when migrating birds halt for rest and refreshment. Then a good gun well handled should account for several brac shortening the food supply, too great plenty of minks and foxes trapping, net ting, cooping, the prevalence of cheap guns among the negro population—each and all must be taken in account Notwithstanding, it is safe to say that each time out At other times one brace throughout at least two-thirds of the or even a single bird to half a dozen misses is no discredit to sportsman skill south country the man who knows how to For every snipe or woodcock the south GEORGE LOWE, H. T g0 about it may make a bag of from five ¢ land shows there are at least a hundred to fifteen brace upon any good day of the HARPER, GEORGE W MAURER AND LOUIS LANG OF BEATRICE RETU RNING FROM A TWO DAYS' SHOOT ON THE BLUE. shooting secason From Left to Right— Re T. V. Moore Westminster church, Omaha; Rev J. Wilbur Cha; man, D. D., se retary of the General Assembly's committe on evangelistic work; Rev. William Car ter ]r» D., pastor First church, Kansas City, Mo Rev. Edwin Hart Jenks, pastor First church Omaha DELEGATES TO THE PRF IYTERIAN MISSIONARY CONFERENCE RECENTLY HELD IN OMAHA SBYTERIAN MISSION CONFERENCE— Photo by a Staff Artist. Photo by a Staff Artist LEADERS IN PR