Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1886-01-11
squirrel-Hunting Down South.

A squirrel hunt on one Of these creeks.
writes Magnolia. Fla. correspondent
is worth . journey from the north.
There are two ways OF hunting gray
squirrels in Florida. One is 80 20 on
foot. battle with the thorny vines thai
hang like nettings Of barbed wire in the
thicket, fall over cypress knees. ct
mired in the hog. and strain the mus
cles of your neck and spine looking for
the squirrels that are In the tree tops,
and can be easily knocked out The
other way is 10 take TO one OF the creeks.
For this purpose get a small sailboat
with scull lock at the stern. Choose
day on which there il little wind.
Take along an obedient darkev hoy.
Sail to the mouth of the creek. calculat-
ing to get there about the middle OF the
afternoon, and If the breeze Is favorable
run up the creek a mile or two under
sail. Then down sail, take your seat In
the bow with light, but strong-sho0t-
ing double breech-loading gun in your
hands, and bag of cartridges loaded
with No. shot at your side. Tell him
to scull noiselessly under the overhang-
ing branches of the nut trees and keep
your eyes and ears open for squirrels.
The first sound you will hear will be
made by kingfisher swooping across
in front Of you with noise like that
made by Chinese fiddle and splashing
into the water. and, as though afraid
you would get ahead of him and scare
the fish. the bird will keep just in front
of the boat for miles. sitting on some
overhanging dead limb till you nearly
come up with him, and then winging
his way on for another stage with his
peculiar clatter. NoiselcssIy the boat
viii advance till you or the darky boy
probably the darky boy---can hear the
bark of squirrel up ahead, or hear
him as he leaps from branch TO branch.
or see the nimble little fellow running
down limb. He does not hear che
boat, for it makes not the slightest
noise. Nine times out Of ten you can
get fair crack at him. The Nc.
shot are large enough to bring him
down, even though twigs intervene.
The darky boy will scull up and take
him from the water while You are put
ting in another shell. II the air be
still, squirrels will be plentiful oil along
the bank, and there will be no trouble
about getting sufficient mess. Mean
creeks will sec many things of interest.
Great blue herons, flying noiselessly from
the swamp and disappearing amid the
darkness of foliage far ahead; turkey
buzzards, scraping their wings against
dead branches In their laundering
flight; brown swarms OF wild honey
bees. buzzing around knot-holes in the
hollow trunks of cypress trees which
they have stored with honey; milk-white
cranes, sitting meditatively ON project
ing snags; owls as big as bushel baskets,
sitting out in the glare on the tops Of
dead trees and blinking painfully; tur-
ties of the size Of small dry-goods box,
tumbling from snags into the water a.
gracefully as dry-goods box would
tumble, and alligators. quick to illus
trate the proverbial ease OF rolling of
from log.
There are several ways of skinning d
squirrel. Ii may be done in this way:
Cut off the tail close to the body, leay-
ing piece of skin half an inch long
unsevered on top. Take him By the
tail and hind legs and pull. The piece of
uncut skin will widen as it comes of till
the edges come together on the belly,
and the forequarters and head will be
stripped clean. Then take hold of the
point of skin still on the belly and strip
the hindquarters Here is way Of
cooking squirrel that is. as good as the
above designed way of skinning him:
After drawing the squirrel and saving
the heart, liver and lights, cut off his
head and quarter him. Put some white
bacon in the frying pan and try out the
fat. Into the hot fat drop the pieces Of
squirrel. season TO taste, cover closely.
and fry till thoroughly cooked and
Drowned. II is dish fit for the gods