The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1879-01-06
Game In the West and in the East.

Trappers and hunters are gathering In
marvellous quantity Of game in the country
west OF the Mississippi River just now, and
wholesale dealers in centres like Chicago
and st. Louis are kept busy receiving and
forwarding 1t. At wholesale prices, the
game arriving at each OF those points Is es-
timated to DO worth something like $4,000 a
week This large sum OF money represents
vast heaps OF flesh, feathers, and fur at
the low prices for which these pro-
duets Of the Far West are now selling.
Quails out there go by wholesale at fifty
five cents q dozen, while rabbits retail i'm
immense quantities at the astonishing
price Of five cents apiece, squirrels at seven
and half cents, brant and wild geese at
fifty cents apiece, ducks at forty and fifty
cents pair, and other game at similar
figures. Venison, which is retailcd at fancy
prices, is sold, with the hide on, to butchers
and packers at five cents n pound. The
venison which comes from Minnesota is
considered the best, but much also comes
from Indian Territory, where tho Cherokee
Nation have an enclosed game preserve OF
fifty square miles in which deer and jack
rabbits abound. Out on the plains rab-
bits are hardly looked upon as game
worth the notice Of professional Nimrods
who have lived long enough to call them
selves grown men; whom snow Is on the
ground they are slaughtered in droves and
sold at the railroad stations by the cord.
As Eastern markets are we'll supplied with
game, Western shippers, seeking some other
outlet for their surplus, have been expert
menting upon London. Qualls principally
are sent, partly because Of the unprece-
dented numbers OF these birds which have
come TO an untimely end this winter, and
partly because the expected profits ON them
are larger than on any other kind OF
game. When the quails reach st. Louis
and Chicago they are frozen; they are then
packed in barrels, tightly wedged in by
hydraulic pressure, and placed on fast
freight trains to New York, where they are
transferred to the decks OF fast ocean
steamers for Liverpool. The steamship
companies agree that the barrels shall re-
main on deck during the voyage and If the
weather keeps cold the quails arrive in Lon
don as fresh as when they started. Quails
cost the Western shipper 1fty-flve cents a
dozen, the freight to London is about twen-
ty-two cents dozen, and the price in Lon
don from sl,5O to 81 a dozen. The Western
shipper therefore hopes to realize a hand
some profit on the quails exported TO London.
In spite Of the low price at which the birds
are selling, however, some OF our Western
fellow citizens are grumbling at their quail
on toast sportsman on the Missouri
River declares that the great quantity Of
game brought In to market since the severe
cold and heavy SHOWS set in Is pretty con-
elusive proof Of foul play practscd, not upon
the game, but upon the consumers thereof
Instead OF falling an easy prey 10 the trap
per and sportsman when the ground Is COW
cred with hard snow, as at present, the
qualls are never more shy and unapproach-
able than at such seasons, since there is then
no covering under which they can hide This
winter they are said TO DO wilder than
they were ever known TO bo before. This
sportsman Is therefore positive that OF the
qualls now on the market very small per-
eentage have died OF gunshot wounds.
Most OF them are, he alIlrms, found dead in
coveys on the snow, either frozen, starved,
or poisoned by the berries and other I'M
Wonted varieties OF food TO which they are
compelled to resort. The belief in such moi
sonlng, he thinks, is strongly supported by
the dark color OF the flesh and other lndica-
lions OF disease presented by many OF the
birds sold. Wild turkeys are also frequent
~ found standing stark dead In the snow.