Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1881-05-06
Turtle Hunting.

Turtle-Huntlng.
Bears is walkin'. Therell be fun
10 night, you just better believe it'll"
This was said by Jim, my India
yiver guide, as he burst into the camp
hom morning stroll on the beach.
Ny hammock was hung between two
SAlmettos in grove of water-oaks, on
narrow peninsula of sand between the
Broad Indian river lagoon and the At
&ntic.
n 1t is O wonderful region, that long
stretch of sand that separates the Ia
gOons Of the east coast Of Florida from
the ocean. 1t is nearly three hun bred
miles in length, broken here and there
by river that forces itself through, in
some places five miles in breadth. in
sahers but q few hundred yards across.
It is mainly covered with scrub, low
Trees. interspersed with saw palmetto
and thorny plants, and is the home of
many deer, wildcats, panthers at times
and hordes of raccoors and 'possums.
Rattlesnakes are often met with here.
and make things lively for an inexperi-
anced hunter who hears their rattle for
the FIRST time.
We were camped near the inlet of
Indian river, where fish were so plenti-
tul that we had but to drop line into
The water to get bite; and by throw
ing hook into the ocean surf, we could
n any time draw out an immense bass,
eDongh for dinner.
We were waiting for turtles; we had
some over from the great bird, swamps
~ the mainland, and good turkey
shooting and deer-hunting, on purpose
70 vary our diet of game by one of
tsftle eggs--and perhaps with turtle.
steak.
This was good news that Jim brought
nue--$ha bears we're walking the .3each
--fox BEARS never walk the ocean beach
-sifhAIit an object. and that object is
Avtss eggs.
They live in the great cypress swamps
= the west side Of the river, crossing
Z b the coast at the season of turtle-lay.
ing, never q week too soon or too late.
They are good swimmers, but are some
times overtaken and killed in the water.
Only the week before, one had been
pursued by some men in my boat.
They caught up with him, and one
. them made blow at him with q
Aatchet. when he turned about and at
eacked the boat. getting one paw over
he rail. The men we're frightened, and
aesisted. wisely concluding it better to
Ut him escape than to run the risk OF
swapping the boat. 500
To return to the camp: Bears is
waikiki" said Jim, and turkles is
mavlin'; and il we don't give both q
lively time, Jest put me down for an ap-
p1e blossom"
When Jim was particularly sanguine
about nything, he always made the
0odest request to be recorded as an
apple blossom in case OF failure.
We ate breakfast, and then took our
gnns and went to the beach, where the
great waves came in tumultuously. and
dashed up the smooth sand. He walked
ahead. and ] followed in his tracks un.
ID We reached spot where the sand
vas softer, and we sank ankle-deep.
"Therel don't you see them tracks,
Dst like you'd stuck the top of your
Asad in the sand? Thems bear.
1neks.".
"Nov lnok here" continued he,
going further down, and calling nv at.
sslti0n to q broad trail that led up
nom the water to near the border OF
bcAeh-gras "thst's q turtle-track."
Two deep grooves were drawn in the
md by the turtles fins as it had drawn
- heavy body up the sand, between
which was broad furrow made by the
body itself. The turtle had floundered
ever the sand with apparently aimless
intent, and had gone back to the sea
without dopositing her eggs, seemingly
not satisfied with the spot.
The bear mad come up from the
socth along the beach, and had stopped
here and dug in several places, misled
by the turtles trail into the belief that
she had laid her eggs here; from this
point, he had gone off into the scrub to
hook for oysters on the river shore, Jim
said:
mo matter; they'll both be back
lo-night, somewhere within a half a
mile OF this very place; the turkle1l be
back to lay her eggs, the bear'll be back
% look after the turkle, and we, we'll
Do here to look after the bear"
Saying which, with chuckle, Jim
bed the way up the beach to look for
fresh tracks.
We found another trail, but no eggs,
shough all our observations showed us
Nat there was good prospect for the
night. There was q moon that night, a
moon that flooded even the dark grow
where our hammocks were hung, and
- We reached the beach equipped for
sP1pding at least half night on the
E6d, it was almost as light as day.
a1,4 I'll. II