The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1888-02-15
In the Ozark Region.

II wish that some of you follows who
like to talk about h sport you have
hunting here in tho cold east could just
pack up your traps about o and go
back with me to % country that a chap
can live in with pleasure and comfort
while the gales and snow and frost Of
this Atlantic climate are getting their
work IN to tho best kind of advantage"
said "Chip" Macguire, of Springfield,
Mo-, at the Morton House the other
night. .Game is always plenty in
southern Missouri" said he, but this
wear it seems to have outdono itself in
abundance, l came over the old Kan
sas City, Fort Scott and Gulf Railroad
last week, and although that was early
in the season for tho birds to DO making
themselves conspicuous, I'll bet that l
counted q hundred flocks of wild tur-
keys. and there wasn't n flock out OF
which l couldn't have shot one or moro
of the splendid birds from my window
in the car. Tho railroad in n place
runs on trcstles over a swamp Tor
several miles, and in the extensive
ponds and bayous of that wild stretch
of country thousands upon thousands of
wild ducks and geese of all varieties
were feeding, some of tho water being
covered for acres with tho fowl, until
their groups looked like islands in tho
lakes. These fowl seemed to pe so used
to tho noise of the trains that did not
sec one move its position through being
startled by the cars in all that distance.
"The day before l left Springfield
saw a b~ushwhacker come into town with
n mule-tcam load of deer carcasses of
the finest kind. l bought II simply to
obtain the magnificent head and ant
lers, and all l paid for the whole bust
ness was 1926. There were at least
two hundred pounds of the best venison
included III the purchase. You could
not get that head and those horns here
for less than $l5. Among the other
large game reported plenty and waiting
for the hunter is bear. This gentle
creature more particularly affects the
junglcs and swamps of northern Arkan-
sas, and if an unsuspectin sportsman
is going into these parts he will have to
keep his eye skinned to find thorough
fares unobstructcd by bruin. The lynx,
and now and then that relic of the DAYS
when tho country belonged to two-le!g.
ged rs we'll as four-footed savages, the
American panther, still hold as land
tenure in that garden spot Of the south
west, and, I'm told, greet visitors after
the manner of their kind. l never
daily with game of this kind, but l
know men who do, and what they say
may DO depended on.
IL went ont for n rabbit hunt a few
days before / left home, and | got tired
of tripping over them. That is no OK
aggcration, for l give you my word that
they jumped out from every bunch of
brush and leaves that lay in our path.
After bagging all | could carry | went
to shooting quail for n friend who was
with me to back homo. These birds
actually paid no attention to the gun ut
all, but the ilocks | shot into kept right
on feeding as if nothing had happened,
and rather objected TO my picking up
the ones | had shot. We speak of gray
and black squirrels out there as YOU
might refer to sparrows here, for they
take possession of towns and villages in
about the samo way.
Tho beauty of it all is that the later
the season grows the better the weather
gets, and any Of you fellows can come
out there New Years and strike il
right, and spend the remainder of the
winter in clover. You won't be apt tt
see much snow. The Ozark region j
the greatest country | know Of, and tn,
water out there is immense. If 70,
want to have n good hunt como out anC
see mo. and leave all your medicine q
home IN Y. sun.