Martinsburg weekly independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1873-1875, 1875-02-20

generally grow to be, and there suffer
| themselves TO he carried back and forth
with the swaying of the limbs, waiting rs
| II were, 10 be shot Tn one occasion, from
tree which stood shor distance above
the size of the new bridge at the old tav-
ern crossing on Back Greek, | picked of
no less than five squirrels before left the
spot The mode Of procedure was simply
to rest my rifle on corner Of the fence,
and awaiting the darkening OF the sight
by the squirrels, as the wind carried them
ny, turning within shooting range, before
firing Thus my position needed little or
no change
As for the pigeons, at the risk Of being
supposed, by some of the younger readers
of tie INDEPENDENT. to be playing the role
of a disciple of the veritab.e Baron Mum
chansen, | will state that | distinctly re-
member the time when the trees along
Rack Creek were fairly stripped of their
dead limbs by the weight of the immense
air-darkening hocks that tried TO settle
down upon them.
At such times the crashing Of the limbs,
commingling with the tlut,ering and NUT
terings of the birds and the bangiEgs Of
the fowling pieces, made the woods re-
sound strangely and excitingly indeed
When, with the aid of the rolling forma-
ton Of the land, the range of one of these
heavily laden limbs could be sighted,
nearly half as many pigeons were some
times brought down, killed or crippled,
as there were shot in the heavily charged
gun.
Now for some i1dieat ions Of the change
which has come over s'the creek in this
respect. Last fall made our old family
homestead my headquarters for several
weeks hunted NEST industriously much
Of the time. 1t was not tho proper season
for the pigeons. But the shellbarks were
ready for the squirrels, as was also the corn
and yet did not ses more than two or
three squirrels during my visit II requir-
ed the positive reinsurance of a very re-
tentive memory, as to scenes Of my early
life, 10 make me feel certain that was
amid the haunts of my childhood:
The deer, which were quite plenty in
former years, among the hills of Back and
Sleepy Creeks, are nowadays seldom met
with, ! am told by the surviving old hunt
ers--or rather their children for the old
folks are nearly as scarce as the deer. For
the scarcity of this game | can readily ac-
count, as | cannot for the disappearance
of the squirrels, or their failure to return
annually to the nutting grounds, to ex-
press il more correctly. The scream of
the locomotives and the rum5ling of the
cars have driven them to parts unknown,
never TO CRAFTY the hunters of Berkeley
again. With them have disappeared the
numerous packs of deer hounds whereby
the hills were made musical, as they gave
tongue in the chase, in days ofyore. Now
most of the hounds left, which are kept for
foxes only, would not know deer from a
calfif met by accident in the woods. Their
owners would be lucky If even they escap-
ed installing the one for the other, so sell
dom is this once SO familiar denizen of the
forests Of Berkeley now seen.
In future Renaissance | shell attempt
to describe an old fashioned deer chase in
which took part ''long time ago"
J. Il. s.
Washington D. c., Feb. l5, 1875.