The McCook tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 1886-1936, 1885-12-24
sOUIRREL.HUNTING DOWN SOUTH.
A Paradise for Indolent Spor smen In the
st. Johns River Country.

A Paradise for Indolent Spor smen In the
st. Johns River Country.
A squirrel hunt on one of these
creeks. writes a Magnolia, Fla, cor
respondent, is worth II journey from
the north. There are two ways of
hunting gray squirrels in Florida. One
is to 60 on loot, battle with the thorny
vines that hang like nettings OF barb
ed wire in the thicket, fall owe cypress
knees, get mired in the bog, and strain
the muscles of the neck and spine
looking for the squirrels that are IN
the tree tops, and can be easily knock
ed u The other way is to take to
one OF the creeks. For this purpose
get a small saIIboat, with Il scull lock
ut the stern. Choose 4 day on which
there is lutte wind. Take along an
obedient darkey boy. Sail to the
mouth of the creek, calculating to get
there about the middle OF the after
noon, and if the breeze is favorable
run Up the creek Il mile or two under
sail. Then down sail, take your seat
in the bow with a light but strong
shooting MISUNDERSTANDING gun in
your hands, and Il bag of cartridges
loaded with No. 4 shot ut your S de-.
Let the darky have the paddle. Tell
him to scull noiselessly under the
overhanging branches OF the nut trees
and keep his eyes and ears open for
squirrels.
The first sound you hear probably
will be made by Il kingisher swOOping
across in trout of you with q noise
like that made by a Chinese fiddle and
splaShing into the water. and. as
though afraid that you get ahead OF
him and scare the fish, the bird will
keep just i'll front of the boat for miles,
sitting on some overhanging dead
limb till you nearly comeup with him,
and then ~winging his way on for an
other stage with his peculiar clatter.
NOiSelessly the bOat will advance till
you or the darky boy-probably the
darky boy-cap hear the bark of 4
squirrel up ahead, or hear him ''cut-
ting" at Il nut, or detect the swish of
boughs as he leaps from branch to
branch, or see the nimble little fell
low running along Il limb. He does
not hear the bout, for it makes
not the slightest noise. Nine
times IN ten you can get a fair
crack at him. The No. 4 shot are
large enough to bring him down, even
though twi9s intervene. The darby
will scull up and take him from the
water while you are putting III anOth-
er shell. If the air be still, squirrels
will be plentiful all along the bank,
and their will be no trouble about get
ting Il sufficient mess. Meanwhile the
hunter unused TO the Florida creeks
Will see many things of interest. Great
blue herOns, flying no selessly from
the swamp and disappearing amid the
darkness of foliage far ahead; turkey
bCzzardS, scrap!ng their wings against
dead branches i'll their laundering flight;
brown Swarms of wild hOney-bees,
buZzing around knot-hOles in the hOl-
low trunks of cypress trees which
they have stored with honey; milk
white cranes, sitting meditatively OF
snags; owls as big IS bush
baskets, sitting but in the glare on
the tops of dead trees and blinking
painfully; turtles of the size of a small
dry-ooods box, tUmbiing from snags
the water as gracefully as q dry
goods box wOIld tumble, and alliga-
tors, quick to illustrate the prOVerbial
ease of rolling Off from q log.
There are several WAYS OF SHINING
1t may be done in this way:
Cut off the tail close to the body.
a piece of skin half an inch
answered on top. Take him by
the tail and hind legs and pull. The
piece of uncut skin will wider as it
comes off till the edges come together
the belly. and the forequarteTs and
head will be stripped clean. Then
take hold of the po mt of skin still on
the belly and stripe the hindqUarters-
Here Is 4 way OF cooking the squirrel
is rs good rs the abovc-de,i gnat-
ed way OF ~skinning him; After draw
ing the squirrel and saving the heart,
and lights. cut oil his head and
quarter him. Put some white tacon
in the frying pan and try out the fat.
Into the hot FAT drop the pieces OF
squirrel, season to the taste, cover
and fry till thoroughly cooked
and Drowned. 1t is q dish tit for the
gods or anybody else.