The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-09-06

brought to the appointed place, and a gay
picnic ensues. Though shooting is a sport
in which more real personal work is done
by those who join in it, and in which skill
is a real ingredient, still it is neither so
hunting. There a Arm seat in the
saddle, a good horse. and a discrimination
to ride straight across the country, are all
that is needed for the majority of the
field" In shooting much patience is re-
quired, beside an unerring accuracy of aim.
and a judicious knowledge of when and
how to shoot.
When we consider that hunting is the
fashion which we Americans are trying
to follow in a country without foxes. and
with no preserves of game, We must con-
cede that the system of American fox-hunt-
ing must be the result of considerable hard
study. The fox" Is an anise seed bag, and
the stone walls, the posts of fences four
feet six inches high, make a fearful
difference. In England there are no
fences; and again VIZ have no parks
filled with fallow deer. SO we are at a
disadvantage.
We can imagine, however, that in the
Elk ridge hunt of Maryland. and in the
park of Austin Wadsworth, Esq, at Gene
SEQ, there might be genuine sport. But at
the R%ockaway, at C%edarhurst, the Meadow
Brook at Westbury. the Westchester, of
White Plains, the Essex at Orange. the
IlCullOAO COulVy AuuL Nv VulU0 IlhlNh,
the pleasure must be in the break
f~asts. the meets, the day. in the
open air, the company. the pretty
girls. that game which pur-
sues the hunter, as Balzac says, these must
be the attractions rather than the fox, be-
cause there is no fox. They generally have
an anise seed bag or they may have adrags-
man, who initiates the motions of a fox
with saturated pads fastened to the soles of
his boots.
Still, as an addition to the art of enter
tanning it is q very great boon, and a hunt
breakfast at the Westchester hunting club
is as pretty a sight as possible.
In America the sport began in Virginia in
the last century, and no doubt in our great
west and south it will some day become as
recognized an institution as in England.
We have room enough for it, too much per-
haps. Shooting should become from the
Adirondacks to the Mississippi, a recoQ-
nized sport. rs it was once a necessity. If
American gentlemen can only fix on
five months OF the year which thev can de-
vote to sport, as the Englishmen do, il may
rival that of Great Britain. Unfortunately,
American gentlemen are bringing down
other kinds of game in twelve months of
the year. We cannot help thinking, how
ever, that shooting a buck in the Adiron-
dacks is a more manly sport than shooting
one in England.
No one who has ever had the privilege Of
doing it will forget his first drive through
the delights OF an English park.
the ferny glades beneath the old
oaks and beeches are kept both for
show and for the table, for park-fed
venison is a more delicious morsel than
the flesh of the Scotch red deer that
runs wild on the moor. White, b, wi and
notified, with branching antlers which
serve admirably for offensive and defensive
weapons, the deer browse in groups, the
does and fawns generally apart from the
more lordIy bucks. The p%ark-keeper
knows them all. and when one is shot the
hides, hoofs and 'antlers become his per-
quigites.
The method Of shooting a buck il, how
ever, this: The keepers assistant drives the
nero IN a certain direction previously
agreed upon. The sight ID Il very pretty
one. The keeper stations himself, rife in
hand, in the fork Of some convenient tree
along the route. He takes aim ut the in
tended victim, and at the ominous report
Inc scared herd acnmpers away CASTOR than
ever. leaving their comrade to the knives
OF the Keeper. Ii is very much like going
out to shoot d COW. There is occasion-
ally a bit of venerie and an attempt to re-
new the scenes of Robin Hood and Sher-
wood forest, and ths hounds are let out.
put 1t ~ a sham after all, az they are trained
nov 10 XIII fhe deer. The stag in this in
stance ~ given u certain start, being carried
bound IN a cart to n certain point. whence
ne IL released and the chase Commences.
mus the same stag may be hunted a nun
Der OF times and be nons tho worse for IL.
whlch is not the way they do it the in Adj
rondacks. 49,
American veIiaon is higher havored NEAR
than English. and should be only mai tly