The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1890-11-09


etiquette of the British sportsman is sacred
and inviolable. A hunter is invariably a
gun" A certain Americanism defining
ancestry may have had this remote origin.
The dogs are always hounds" You must
say shooting" and never cunning You
not track it; and the tail of a fox is
modestly termed brush" To head a
fox, to hailoa at fox, or to utter
any cry of approval, advice or
exultation in the field. would prove
| the part of your companions. It would be
impossible for you to have good day's
hunting, but you may have had "a good
rum" But hunting strictly means, and
that alone. riding after the hounds; while
shooting" is only applicable to killing with
the gun. In grouse and other shooting the
sportsman uses two fowllng pieces, and a
servant called "loader" attends him for
the purpose of reloading them. II you
were invited from the city you would not
| be expected to bring your ''loader," as your
host would provide one for YOU but ,s eoun
punctiliousnoss exists regarding boundaries
and trespasees. No gentleman will ever re-
cover bird which has fallen upon neigh
boris land. Should terms of SO great
friendliness and intimacy exist as
ton to make this permls s. your towing WING
| tions continuing for generations have
resulted from breaches of similar consider
alton and courtesy. All gentlemen riding
to hounds are guests of hosts host wher-
ever hunting breakfasts are given. 1t may
so happen at meets, especially among
friendly titled neighbors that this hunting
breakfast is provided in friendly courtesy
by the lord of some manor miles from your
hosts estate. As a guest, you are on pre-
cisely the same terms under such circum-
stances, as your host. Although if ladies
join the meet they are not expected to join
the gentlemen at breakfast. unless acqualn-
ted with the lady of the house-though the
latter never presides at such breakfasts-
when the ladies will at once proceed to the
drawing room. These hunting breakfasts
are most simple and informal. They us
naliy consist of cold joints. salads, and
ales and liquors, bitter beer taking the
place of honor. They are served in the
dining rooms, a few servants being present
to carve the joints and open ales and beers,
gentleman guests going and coming and
helping themselves ut will. No other meal
served by the aristocracy in Great Britain is
so free from Formally. and therefore SO
universally one of the chiefest enjOyments
of the chase.
The pursuit of feathered game in Scot
land or for that matter in all Britain,is prin-
cipglly confined to grouse, partridge wood
cock, pheasants and snipes, although cur
are plentiful, and all manner of wild-fowl-
ing and fen-shooting for ducks, geese, dun
Inns and coots is INDUCED in by those
possessing more of the true sportmans,
and less of the summer-resorter's instinct.
Grouse and pheasants fill the greatest num-
IL first let's the sportsmen loose upon
gtouse these undoubtedly occupy the
greatest attention. There are now
four varieties; the red grouse,
found in northern England and anywhere
south of the Highlands in Scotland; the
ptarmigan, found only among the peaks of
the northern Scottish mountain ranges, the
plumage of which has the curious quality |
OF changing from the summer dress of
brownish yellow barred with zigzag lines
of black to winter costume of pure white:
the black cock of Scotland and northern
capercailzie, king of all grouse, and only
found in Scotland, reintroduced from Nor
way and carefully preserved, after COM
plete extinction about the middle of the
century. The red grouse provides the uni
versal shooting i'll August, and again in
guns are examined and most important of
all, gamekeepers are consulted as to where
the best packs of birds are to be found.
This can only be fixed by close observation
by those constantly acquainted with the
of the shooting area and
themselves. The seasons, too, have an
important bearing upon their haunts. If
it is wet, the birds hatch ut the edges of
braes and on the brows of sloI es and hills.
II dry, they are sure to be found along the
haughs. flats and peat-mosses, where water
is in close proximity for the young. There
s great labor in ouse-shooting, for the
shooter must be ceaseless walker until the
dogs take the scent of game. Light break
fasts and early work are the rule, sand
wich and flask of cold tea supplying all
needs until luncheon-time, when ladies join
burn, and a genuine picnic is en-
joyed. Two or three hours of midday are
thus passed when, with fresh dogs, the
afternoon work begins. This is usually the
pest and heaviest. Late dinners are the
:ule, and every true British sportsman may
oe found in his bed during the shooting
season by nine O'Clock at night.
The October pheasant hunting as we'll as
he autumnal deer "driving''s. provide a
node of entertainment on grand scale,
nut have more murder and less sport in
hem than is pleasant to contemplate. The
~ ordinary hen-mothers. and set at liberty
within the great demesnes in July. Not
high walls, gentleness of
keepers and all possible preventivea, many
pheasants stray from their home-manors,
md, seeking the outer hedges and bog
SAoooc6S AoA prey w tAo 6uoIOS VI Gu0 6Illdli
tenants and common poachers. Therefore
a few days before pheasant shooting begins
all the gillies about the estate form a ciicle
miles from the main preserve. and concen-
trating towards the latter. shout and beat
with terrific hulabaloo, thus driving many
back to their own coverts. Then MILFORD
and his friends, dressed as for grouse or
ON the moors, and provided
each with two double barreled 'breech-
loading, center-hre fowling- pieces Of No. II
bore, and a "loader." begin the slaughter.
The sportsmen are stat oned in advance at
The edges of open places. The gamekeeper
brings his assistants or 'beaters" into line
behind. Then these move forward perhaps
ZEN yards apart, the keeper. who knows
Every bush. hedge, copse or tree, directing
he heaters in every movement. The men
Fell, "Hi-yi.i-i.' as they beat the bushes,
FALLING az the startled birds fash from
'opse to copse. Cook to the right.'-"Cock
the left, cock"' .'Hi-yi-i-i-
,ock. cock, cock!-Rieht ahead cockr'-
While the death-dealinR guns answer in
rapiditv. From 500 to l 1000 birds
re often gathered up from days slaugh-
or; and are shipped direct to London at
rom four to six shillings per brace to deal
re- who annually furnish hampers and tags
o the gamekeepers Of each estate where
,heasants are known to be bred.
Coursing for deer is thing of the past.
Deer stalking" which is stealing mp to the
deer when they are lying or feeding, and
often requires supreme strength. patience
and cunning, is the highest form of sport
low possible in the great Scottish forests.
Even this 10 largely. replaced by the mill