Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1859-01-25
Sporting Epistle from "old Dominion

Well, my dear spirit and brother sports
men, my Nv estlcy Richards Is cleaned up,
oiled. and in the case land gllntcr she ~
and old Rollo and iou are curIcd up before
the fire, dreaming of the dead stands they
| have made in their day, and the many. many
birds they have stoieH for their master. ami
/ am PRAYING, morning. noon. and night,
that we shall have no SHOW tins winter. ana
but little rain in the summer for we cant
make any more wheat. rain or shine. ami
that next fall | shall live to drop them right
and left, and all around me.
We have had some tolcrablc shooting this
fall the first since '55-a good shot, and IN
industrious. energetic sportsman could bag
his twenty birds, and probably, four or five
harcs. KILLED. early in the season, about
thirty birds. with four hare>-thc best day $
work that have heard of. With Il continu-
alton Of the mild weather that we have had
50 far. we shall have an abundance Of stock
birds, and can very reasonably anticipate
4 fine sport another year. The winter OF %
and 50 was terribly destructive toall kinds OF
/ our game birds, but they rccupcratc rapidly
and it takes but few years, with propitIous
| Matching seasons, to give Us an abundance.
As to the migration of the quall-lt Is I'LL
! in NV eve. They are emnently domestic
/ bird, and never leave their hauntS. except III
some ones game bag, or in the claws OF ady
/ h0wt
| 1t has been mootcd question for some
| time in the Spirit" whether or not the quail
possessed the power Of Withholding their
scent. entertain not the least doubt that
they do possess this faculty, and have had IN
abundance of opportunities OF testing 1t t"
! my entire satisfaction.
/ We have Il few miles from us good many
phrasants (rutilcd grOusc,l but they are villa
and difficult to be shot They will not llctor
a dog 10 stand them, and your only way Is to
! have dog which will tree and keep up an
inccSsant barking: in this way | have heard
, of six or eight being killed from one tree
/ Another way is to shoot them on the wing,
from horseback Upon quiet horse, and by
sjnJing through the woods, You come right
upon them. and their flight being very
straight. and upon ii perfect line with per
son on the back of IL horse. they are easily
knocked down. have killed ~ many rs
half dozen in this way in one days shoot
ing. and in as mauy shots. | find that they
are particularly charmed with the old tune
/ of Canaan" (which | invariably sing, and
would advise any one, i'll phcasant-huntmS,
to try the virtue of that good old hymn
Some cightmlcS from here. upon the oppo-
site side of the Shenandoah River. there Is II
section of land embracing some two or three
hundred acres. grown up III brlarS, broom
sedgc. and bushes. and denomnatcd the Horse
Shoe from theycry remarkable freak Ill the
| river at that place-ior it really appears.
without Il separation. or the formation "i an
island, to be all around yOu; and You are
sometime, bothered To know which side Of
the river you are upon. Well, upon this
piece of ground, which re call the r"bb1Pntch
/ there can be always found fine sport and
plenty of it, We once or twice Il season 60
over in a crowd Of e. ht or ten. with some OF
the sUirituai comforts Of this life, accOmpan-
led by all Of the dogs. ours, terriers, mon
grels. and hounds. that We can beg, steal, or
borrow: and you had better believe that the
>torming Of Chapu .cpcc was not clrcuni-
stance to the cannonadlng which we keep up
from morning till night-the cchoand re-ech"
from our double barrels becomes confined be-
tween the hills of the bend in the river, and
sounds like the hoa:>c and angry muttcrngS
of distant thunder: and we are cre'tbLy i'll
formed. by those who live upon the river,
that il takes weck for the rcverbcration To
die away after one OF our periodical visits
Bat seriously. my friend, Ills sport rare and
cxcellcnt-for we have in more than one in
stance bacgcd in the days shooting between
eighty and a hundred rabbits. Not quite
up to Mr. Kings Understanding, but good
enough.
~ 10 fox-hunting, there's no one, believe,
in our country, who keeps regular pack OF
dogS-only pair here and there. We are
rather shy about hounds. rs no man can afford
to lose Il fifty dollar buck and IL score ot
twenty dollar ewes in one night. They are
the devil amongst sheep when they once
take il into their heads. Bishop Meade. Il
few wears since. imported full blood South
Down buck, with brace of cwcS-all OF
which. think. were destroyed in one night
by some ones hounds. We manage, howev-
cr. to get up Il chase or two every winter
There is an old fellow who lives up i'll the
Blue Mountain, who keeps ten or dozen
dogs. and who comes over for us whenever
we give him due noticc"-Old Tom Ash
, lev, Bless his old soul II Irucr and NOR"
/ honest rrcaturcduc> not breathe the breath of
life. Old Tom is a decidedly original char
. actcr. and claims to be better ycr>cd III .t".r-
oiow than any man who lives. He inyaria,
/ blv hunts on foot. and from his intimate ac-
I quaintancc with the run Of fox. and taking
his neat cuts GrnHHd las a friend Of min"
would say he is almost invariably iii adj
vance of his mounted companions. To give
you an idea Of old Toms superior knowledge:
: In chase which we had with him last win
ter. the old fellow, by his near cuts and art
full dodging. was considerably in advance Of
the restofthc party. Thcdogs were in full cry,
and the scent from the fox very pung"nt even
10 o"r oljactories We finally ov"rhauled
him in crossing ii hundrcd-acrc field. when
Just ~ we dashed up, old Tom came to a sud
den halt, and picking up a substance about
he size of tar. but of less obduratc con-
sistrnry. which, after the process Of smelling
and tasting. BY thunder says he. boys.
its an oid he rcd." Tom has very uniqc
method Of unkenneling an "oId he red. -.
a grey fox will ascend a tree from the out
side the least inclining. y red fox will not,
! but will go up on the jnsjie--if there be a
hole ut the bottom, and the tree sufficiently
hollow-to the very top. When corncrcd
this way (and it is frequently the case when
: pushed hard. Tom finds out with a pole, the
height TO which he has assembled he then
cuts Il hole in the ncighborhood of his head
and putting stout leather string to the
mouth of the fox il is Immediately caught
for they bite worse than Il wild cat and in