Morning journal and courier., 1889-02-15
Friday, February l5,1889

Dakota settler, with whom MT. Eshelma, was stopping while on a huntinp trin
 to the northwest. Early one September ar ternoon Mir. EshelmaM and young Wagner 1 were crossing the prairie from 8 mornings sport with the prairie chickens, and when about four miles from Lake Alice, south west of the Sisseton Indian reservation. where the Wagner homestead was located
 their attention was attracted by white ob-
 jects apparently dropping from the sky over
 Lake Alice. The sun was shining brightly
 and it's rays partially reflected by the nov
 ing objects in mid air, and they looked from
 that distance like large flakes of snow drop- ping earthward. Young Wagner understood the situation at a glance, knowing that the objects were animate ones, and that the cir. cling, settling flight downward, unlike the sweeping flight of geese or swan, showed them to be pelicans, and the season for the southern flight of geese'a and swan was lit- tie early. Pelicans breed somewhere up in Manitoba, and their fall flight to the south occasionally takes in eastern Dakota, where they generally drop off for a day or SO on the lakes in the territory.
 It appeared to Eshelman and his compan- ion as though the blue sky over the lake was alive with the white objects, and from & rise of ground they watched the down pour of pelicans, and gradually saw long line of white stretching across the surface of the lake. While feeding pelicans swim single
 ANSt ones ahead, leap frog fashion, as the head ones gobble up nearly all the food obtaion. able, so that the rear ones would find poor picking. Young Wagner had some experi- snce with pelicans on Lake Alice, and knew that when through feeding they would congregate on a sand bar known as "The Polnt," on the south side of the lake, Such was the case, and an hour or so later the bar, from shore to terminus, about 100 feet out or the water, was covered with the big birds.
 Then the two hunters, having reached home and having anxiously waited for the pelicans to gather on the sand bar, started for them. The bar was difcult of access, the country around being bare, and for several hundred yards Eshelman and Wagner crawled snake fashion through the grass. Wagner had an old double barreled muxxle loader, and Eshelnan had twelve gauge breech loader Having discarded their hunting coats and vests to make crawling easier. Wagner had only two loads in his gun and Eshelnan had two shots in his, besides two shells in the pocket of his flannel shirt, all loads be- ing BIB shot. When within about sixty yards of the point they rose up. The peli- cans were sitting motionless and in mopish bar, and four loads of BB's were emptied in- to them. Eshelman fired the fifth shot as the pelioans attempted to raise and turned ever five, having lost one of the shells from nls sh1rt pocket while "Worming" it through the grass. Pelicans set so close together that it is with difficulty that they can raise when suddenly surprised, and they were slow in getting away, their long wings, with spread of eight feet or more, striking each other.
 Just twenty-one of the flock stayed ip the bar, two eripples attempting to swim of, one succeeding. The other was caught by the wing and pulled back by young Wagner. who rushed into the water waist deep to haul him back, making twenty-two pelicans brought to bag by five shots. The birds weighed from fifteen to thirty pounds, their combined weight being about quarter of ton. It required wagon to haul them to the house. Among the lot were several old males, with "horns' on their bills. The old ones are easily distinguished from young ones. The latter have pale greenish feet, and the skin around the eyes bear similar color. Legs of old ones are more of an or- ange or pinkish hue; also the skin about the eyes. The large skin sackes on the lower mandible were empty, except marked here and there with live leeches.
 As pelican meat is not considered pala. table, che feathers were taken for bedding, and several of the finest birds were preserved for mounting.