Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1886-02-13
squirrel.HuntIng Down south.

n SQdlrfel nulit on one OF these creeks.
writes a Magnolia. Fla, correspondent.
is worth journey from the north.
There are two ways of hunting gray
squirrels in Florida. One Is to so on
foot, battle with the thorny vines that
hang like nettings of barbed wire in the
thickct, fall over cypress knees, get
mired in the bog. and strain the mus
cles of your neck and spine looking for
the squirrels that are in the tree tops,
and can bc easily knocked out The
other way is to take to one of the creeks.
For this purpose get a small Sailboat.
with scuil lock 1T the stern. Choose
n day ON which there is little wind.
Take along I'm ohcdient darkey boy.
Sail TO the mouth of the creek. calculat-
ing TO get there about the middle of tho
afternoon, and If the breeze is favorable
run up the creek mile or Two under
sail. Then down s;lii, take your seat in
the bow with alight. but sirong-shoot-
ing double breeclklDuding gun in Your
hands, and a bag IL cartridges loaded
with No. shot ut Your side. Tell him
to scull noiselesslv 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 a 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 Noiselessly the boat
will advance till YOU or the darky boy
probably the darky boy-can hear the
bark of q squirrel up ahead, or hear
him as he leaps from branch to branch,
or see the nimble little fellow running
down a limb. He does not hear the
boat, for it makes not the slightest
noise Nine times out of ten you can
oet fair crack at him. The No. 4
shot are large enough to bring him
down, even though twigs intervene.
The darky boy viii scull up and take
him from the wafer while you are put
ting in another she'll If the air he
still, squirrels will be plentiful all along
the bank, and there will be no trouble
about getting sufficient mess. Mean
while the hunter unused To the Florida
creeks will see many things of interest.
Great blue herons, flying 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; milx-white
cranes, sitting meditatively on project
ing snags; owls rs big rs 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 thc water as
gracefully as dry-goods box would
tumble, and alligators. quick to illus
trate the proverbial ease of rolling off
from log.
There are several WAYS of skinning q
squirrel 1t may be done in this way:
Cut off the tail close to the body, leav-
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 win widen as it comes off 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 hindquartcrs Here is way of
cooking squirrel that is.as good rs 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
baeon in fl,e flxinr nan and try ont fhe.
fat Into the hot fit drop the pieces of
squirrel. season to taste, cover closely,
and fry till thoroughly cooked and
Drowned II j. 4 dish fit for the gods
or anybody else.