The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1885-03-06
sPoR7-wHAr is ITq
True Sport and Game Butchery Forcfbly
COntrasted.

| SPORT-WHAT Is TIP
True Sport and Game Butchery Forcfbly
| Contracted.
Sport! What is it? Well may we
lsk ourselves that question in this age
Of battue. of slaughter and of hungry
appetite for blood. l have wandered
n many lands. have seen sport in
many phases. l have taken part there
N, moreover. and 1 think 1 am there
lore qualified to define what sport is.
define sport as being a hunt by
nan after wild animal, in which skill
5 required to secure the beast; as pas
lime where fair play must have a place,
where the animal must have chance,
and that chance must be fair and nat
ural one.
There is sport in Notwithstanding,
in grouse-shooting, and such pastimes,
when the animal hunted has chance
IF escaping. but must confess that the
sreech-loader heavily handicapS that
,iance.
:. and large bags go together, but
c1htend that large bags are not sport.
Between the true sportsman who works
bis moor or turnips with pair of good
iogs, and brings home his twelve or
| 'uurteen brace of birds in the evening,
AID the false sportsman who walks his
noors and turnips with four or five
dogs at work, and to whom one 5reech-
!Cader does not suffice for the continual
blazing and Staying necessary, there is
! l gulf of the widest dimensions. The
former is n sportsman, the latter a
butcher. The former loves air and ex-
ercise; he takes pleasure in seeing his
logs work; he has time to admire his
surroundings. and to feel that on the
good noses of his dogs and on his skill
in managing those animals depends the
bag of the day. The latter, on the con-
trary. has no time for such reflections.
His dogs are worked by keepers, his
second gun is loaded for him by a SER
want, his pile of cartridges are all car
ried for him. He walks on like me
dhauical wheel Dogs point in quick
SUGGESTIONS: grouse keep ris NJ in thick
clouds; bang. bang bang goes the
deadly weapon. Birds are huttering on
all sides; many fly away. hard hit. but
to linger and die; they are neither
marked down, sought for. nor picked
up; they might rs well never have been
created for al! the good or use they are.
And yet by this generation of men
such iutchery is allowed to mock at
and deride tie name of sport. A big
bag is voted ..capital sport" small
bag .'poor fun," and the true definition
of words is ignored by all.
In the matter OF shooting, what are
we coming to? Take large battue,
for instance. and tell me if therein lies
true sport. l well remember the first
| ever witnessed, and | think it will
not be am;ss here to describe it and my
sensations.
Take this rs q specimen of five
days shoot, The heaters got into line,
and the battue began. What 4 turmoil
ensued, The heaters shouted and
yelled. and one long unceasing fusilade
Tiled the wODd with its deafening roar
Phea amt after pheasant rose in quick
succession from the corner near which l
stood TIE golden youth near me was
busy. He had three guns and two
loaders; the latter hard at their work
OF loading. unloading, and handing the
guns TO their master. Down came the
pheasants in showers, their bright,
glorious plumage mixed up in CULVER
ing heaps in Their dying struggles.
Many fell with only broken
limbs or shattered legs; l saw
them crawling around me. / counted
eleven at one time swimming about
in little lake hard BY. into which
they had fallen. Then came the hareS.
Here. there and everywhere saw them
running. tcrror-stricken and confused.
To escape was impossible; the netting
prevented that. Many were shot
through the lOins or otherwise MANNED,
and crawlcd about screaming and in
helpless misery. The sporting lord re-
ferred to had over forty of these wretch
ed creatures around Very few were
dead, most of them dragging themselves
along by their foreieet, their ears back,
their eyes di,tended. Rabbits found
themselves in n similar plight. One
poor hare came dashing into the net
al Sc to where stood, and became in
extricably involved. He had not been
shot at, ''Poor brute. will save your
life if ean." said, and tried to I'M
wind him. Inexperienced. l bunglc
over the task. AMI when ut length sue
cecded in eNtricat;ng il. the animal was
dead Fright had killed tie poor beast.
whose timid nature is thus torsured by
man. And so the battue went on. In
course of time the massacre came to an
end. the beaters arrived on the scene.
Ell al III. 1,g~lN l.1
boots put an ~ end to the struggling,
quivering diving beasts around. Sever
al among them Were carrying animals
still living. which they had picked up
an 1 had not troubled to Kill.
Such was the scene that Mortified my
sporting instincts and filled me with
disgust AS gazed on the piles of fur
and feather. and heard the congratula-
tons of the men on the magnificent
sport afforded. and the laughter of the
ladies. who had viewed unmoved this
horrible spectacle. l wondered wnat
our good Old sporting ancestors would
have thought could they have risen
from the dead and looked upon that
scene.
Those who have hunted big game.
who have faced the tigers deadly
spr ny. who have bearded the angry
lou. without being protected by hun
dredS of beaterS or mounted on tame
elephants those, in fact, who have
wandered amid Nature in her wild st
scenes, and drunk in the excitement of
that real sport which is fraught with
danger, and who have met the. wild
haast IN evan terms those whn know
we'll what true sport is. rceeil in