Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1881-12-29
EARLY SPORTS.
"Reminiscences Of the Days When Pot
Hunters Were Unknown.

Hunters Were Unknown.
The 7urJ, Field and Farm of the 23d
inst. contains an interesting letter from
st. Paul over the signature of "Hal a
Dacotah." This nom de plume is one
which has been used by Gen. Sibley fol
many years and many highly entertain
ing matters have been published over
that signature. Wecopy below his latest
contributions:
Editors Turf, Field and Farm:
You ask me as one of the old coterie OF
contributors to Porter's SPIRIT of the
Times to furnish you "a sketch upon some
congenial subject for the Christmas num-
Der of your paper" With every desire
to respond to your wishes, my time is so
fully occupied that l can prepare no
elaborate article, but dot down some
"reminiscences of my sporting career,
which will necessarily be of desultory
character. and with no regard to chrome
| logical order. 1t is melancholy fact
that most of the 'old guard" have long
| since been gathered to their fathers.
Those of us who survive are daily admon-
| ished that we are looked upon by the
present generation of sportsmen as relics
of past age, not qualified to be longer
members of the fraternity or to appre-
ciate the advances which have been made
IN the means and appliances now in use
for the destruction of fin, fur
and feather. Nevertheless, we can
congratulate ourselves that our ex-
perience has been gathered in fields which
no longer exist, in the chase of animals
which now, like angels visits, are s'few
and far between" The noble tenants of
the broad plains, the bison and the elk,
which in our day were found in countless
numbers, must now be sought in greatly
diminished herds, in the region near the
base of the Stony Mountains. There is
little excitement, and no danger, in the
sport of hunting spiritless and fugitive
animals, which seek to escape the on
slaught of pot-hunters with their deadly
breech- loaders, rather than to charge
tiercely upon their pursuers when holly
pressed, as was often the case in the olden
time, when the buffalo was monarch of
the prairie. The hunt has degenerated
into horrible slaughter of the helpless
brutes for the sake of their hides, which
are sold on the upper Missouri at an aver
age of two dollars EACH The wholesale
butchery IS on par with the process of
determination of the deer, which
is going on annually in Michigan,
Minnesota, Wisconsin and other west
ern states, which the law appears to be
powerless to prevent. Pot-hunters by
the score establish their camps early in
the fall in these states, and spend months
in the sole occupation of killing deer for
the supply of our Eastern and European
markets. At this rate, the time is not
far distant when deer will be as rare in
our forests as are the buffalo on the
Western prairies. There should be no
delay in the enactment and strict en-
cOnsummatlOn.
The most exciting and interesting
phase of my experience was my hunting
in company with the Sioux or Dakota In
dams. l spent an entire winter with
them in 1923, leaving Mendoza Oct. L,
and returning March l. Scarcely day
passed without incidents occurring of a
more or less startling character. Our
permanent camp was established at a
point hundreds of miles west of any
white statements, and as the Sioux were
always at war with other tribes we were
subject at all times to attack by hostile par
ties, and our encampment was therefore
surrounded by stockade for the security
of the women and children. This defen-
sive structure was composed of long
wooden pickets placed close together, the
upper end rested at an angle upon trans
verse poles, and around the base the
branches of trees were thickly piled,
making cheoaue de frise, which could
not be surmounted by assailants without
fatal exposure to shots from within. En-
frances were left for convenience, which
were open in the daytime and carefully
closed during the night. Most of the
warriors were, of course engaged in the
hunt daily, but some of the older men
were left behind to defend the camp
against attack. There was, however,
little danger to be apprehended, except
in the night time, as the hunters, dis
persed through the surrounding region,
would be prompt to discover any traces
of war parties. Night alarms, caused by
the fancies of frightened women, or the
barking and bowling of the numerous
dogs, were not infrequent, but no on
slaught was made while l was with the
Indians, although body of
horseman, probably fifty or sixty
in number, of Sacs and Foxes, hostile
tribe, visited the camp in the dark hours
on one accession but were doubtless de-
ferred from making demonstration by
its size, and the formidable nature of its
defences. The party was pursued on the
following morning by the young warri-
ors, but were not overtaken. There was,
of necessity, good deal of monotony in
the daily routine of stationary camp.
The soldiers lodge was always pitched
III the centre, and two of the younger
men we're detailed to take charge of it
and act as cooks, as it was the invariable
| rule that there should be food ready for
such of the warriors as choose to partake
of it, at any hoxr. The choicest parts of
the game killed were always taken po-
session of for the soldiers lodge, and no
woman was ever permitted to enter its
sacred precincts under any pretence:
The days hunt ended, the young bucks
would make their toilet, array themselves
in their gayest apparel and go
forth to visit their respec-
tive loved ones among the maidens,
while the more mature of the warriors
would congregate in the soldiers lodge
to gorge themselves and to indulge in
games of chance, the Sioux, as well as
the Indians of other Northwestern tribes,
being confirmed gamblers. These amuse-