The Van Buren press., 1870-04-05
THE JAcK-sNIPE HUNT.

posed was penetrating thc ucPths vi .io
backwoods. 10! found myself just getting
out of the wilderness. | remembered only AS
symbols of forgotten times. suggested now
and then. by the vignstte ofsome mn,ty tone
the gun and game-bag, the dog and horse OF
primitire days. Like the realization of a for
gotten dream, rode up from the filllow fields
OF the Mulberry bottom, to overtake Colonel
Jim King and party of neiGhbors, ON the 29th
ult. mounted and equipped for days shoot
ing on Vine Prairie The last shooting match
in which ice engaged together had been, not at
canyas-b backs but at blue bellies, on the luck
less field of Prairie Grove And small game
did we bag on that little hunt. Forgotten
forever be the rude engines of war and pres
cnt OILY, forcvermore, be the implements OF
harmless sport! Away with battles artiile-
ry: give us the laminated barrel. breathing
death only TO the tribes of the fen, river and
lake, or the riHed-tube of the deer-slayer
With unspcakable pleasure, having bid adieu
to the former did ] welcome, here on this
distant frontier" the reappearance of the
latter. AS we rode we thought, we talked,
only o(Ae latter. Adventures were recount
ed. The terms OF shooting match, to be
tried that day, were rocited to me. My friend
advised me how noted hunter otthese parts,
a former hero Of the historic precincts of Vine
Prairie, had accepted a wager proposed by
him, through the public prints, that he, the
narrator, could Kill more jack-snipe, in a
given number of shots, than any man in
4 ,rs q, nd aIi.inint, thot IA
money had been put up and the bet was that
day to be decided, on the old snipe' ground Of
Vine Prairie. ale had Dragged of his shoot
ing" continued my informant, "until pro-
posed match with him. He accepted but
took care afterwards to decline, and yet left
the impression that was reluctant to enter
it. put public chalengcin the Press. To-
days trial grows out oft" Il should think"
vcnturcd to interpose, that you would
have no novice to contend against in Dr.
Thruston.n All" said he, "t the Doctor com
plains of Times failings, and will not shoot,
himself but putsup againstm me, God save the
mark y a preacher. sir, a gentleman of the
cloth, to shoot against ne; when ], long ago,
threw away Blairs Rhetoric and Paley's Evil
dences, for more songenial lessons of the
fields and woods And wish, in order to
make the thing complete, that the parson may
prove to have big share in the bet! Now,
Mr.. Northcutt the preacher above mention
cd, is none of your Cream-cheeses, Aminidab
Slccks or Charles lIoneymans, but quick,
ready, practical man of the times, who was a
raider with John Morgan one of the three
hundred that swan the Ohio, and who can
play the fiddle. while turning his hand to any
thing practical, and preach the best sermon
you'll hear in months ride in any country
ard puts on no sanctimonious airs withal. As
to his shooting, don't know any thing about
that, but, yesterday killed heeaty-oae birds
or make any approach to it, Tbruston is well
CONS to the money! repeated this speech
to the party when got to the ground and the
Doctor told the story Of the young man who
was telling the marvellous exploits of his
short career, at a house raising, until an old
amt you ashamed to talk So whea there are
Older liars on Tie ground r
Horses had been taken out and tied to the
over-hanging branches of the clump of trees
that cluster on the well-known mound in the
midst of the prairie; lunch baskets were pla-
ced convenient. umpires were chosen and the
contestants went a-fcld. Col. King was ac-
companicd by Col. Farmer, as his own UNI
pirc, and by Mr.. Anderson as Northcutt's.
Mr.. Northcutt was accompanied by Capt.
Bob. Miles as his own umpire, and by Maj. L.
G.. Whitesides, as Kings. Birds and shots
were to be talled by the umpires; the con-
testant who killed the greatest number OF
birds, in forty shots, was to be the winner.
The morning was hazy and cold. | built a
fire, when was joined by Macy Howell, on
his "white mule and we remained on the
mound. The two trios gradually Withdrew,
shooting an occasional gun westward, on the
prairie. Dr. Thruslon and Joe Clegg and old
man Frick went pot-hunting. eastward. The
shots were not frequent. Now and then a
gun only. The snipc knew what was up,
The jack-snipe is not made to be bagged by
novices. The delicious dish he makes was in
tended to reward the appetitcs ofadepts only
lie rises with spirited bound. and loud chirp
which sounds like a jeer to the sportsman
and fits away swift as light, sometimes in a
zig-zag flight sometimes In a spiral course,
always in tina; direction least to be anticipa
ted. And quick must be the eye, adroit the
gun and ready the trigger that brings him
down. Clegg came in with moor-fowl,
killed, he said, under circumstances which re-
qurcd marvellous skill, Sitting unconscious
ly. on the water of the marsh, DR.. Thruston
said,) n fee-lark and a ajack-snipc shot on the
ground. Fricke came in with a handful of
pec-wecs, He wondered why the "silly chaps
shot at the boirds iloying, when he could kill
whole cluster at one shot sitting Thrustou
shot thrice on the wing and brought in two
jack-snipes. Two birds out ofthree was good
shooting. he said, according to Frank Forester,
and all high authority. We got tired waiting
for the contestants, and sent Macy Howell for
them across the prairie on his mule. They
came in. King had seven birds out of nine
shots n little better than two out of three,
Northcutt had ten birds out of fifteen shots /;
exactly two out of threc,-he had the most
birds however. King said, LETS draw the
bet--it will be impossible to get forty shots
to-day" 1t was left to the umpires. The
bet was drawn and SO were corks and Goals.
Where was Bill Cush now? Did lie not. at
Navasota. across the wide praries of Texas,
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