The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-09-06

are 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 real ingredient, still it is neither
SO characteristic nor picturesque as fox
hunting. There firm seat in the saddle.
good horse and q determination 10 ride
straight across country, are all that is
needed for the majority of the field" In
shooting much patience is required, beside
unerrlng accuracy OF aim and judicious
knowledge of when and how to shoot.
When we consider that hunting is the
fashion" which 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
hunting 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 We have no parks
filled with fallow deer. So we are at a dis
advantage
We can imagine, however, that in the
Elk ridge hunt of Maryland, and in the
park of Austin Wadsworth, esq.,, at Ge-
neseo, there might be genuine sport. But
at the Rockaway at Cedarhurst. the
Meadow Brook at Westhury, the West
chester of White Plains, the Essex at
Orange, the Richmond county hunt at
White Plains, the pleasure must be in the
breakfasts, the meets, the day in the open
air, the company, the pretty girls, that
game which pursues the hunter, as Bazac
says-these must be the attractions rather
than the fox, because there is no fox.
They generally have an anise seed bag or
they may have dragsman, who initiates
the motions of fox with saturated pads
fastened to the soles of his boots. Still,
as an addition to the art of entertaining it
is a very great boon, and hunt break
fast" at the Westminster Hunting Club is
as pretty 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 be-
come as recognized an institution as In
England We have room enough for it,
too much perhaps. Shooting should be-
come, from the Adirondacks to the Mis-
slssippi, recognized sport, as 1T was once
necessity. If American gentlemen can
only fix on five months of the year which
they can devote to sport, as the English
men do, it 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, however, that shooting a
buck in the Adirondacks is 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 herds of faliow deer that haunt the
ferny glades beneath the old oaks and
beeches are kept both for show and for the
table, for PARKED venison is a more de-
llcious morsel than the flesh of the Scotch
red deer that runs wild on the moor.
White, brown and notified, with branch
ing anters which serve very admirably
for offensive and defensive weapons, the
deer browse in groups, the does and fawns
lordly bucks. The park keeper knows
them all, and when one is shot the hide,
hoofs and antlers become his perquisites.
The method of shooting buck is, how
ever, this: The keepers assistant drives
the herd in certain direction previously
agreed upon. The sight is very pretty
one. The keeper stations himself, rifle in
hand, in the fork Of some convenient tree
along the route. He takes aim at the in
tended victim, and at the ominous report
the scared herd scampers away faster than
ever, leaving their comrade to the knives
OF the keeper. 1t is very much like going
out to shoot a COW. There is occasionally
bit of Uenerie and an attempt to renew
the scenes of Robin Hood and Sherwood
forest, and the hounds are let out. but
it is sham after all, rs they
The stag in this instance is given
certain start, being carried bound in cart
to certain point, whence he is released
and the chase commences. Thus the same
stag may be hunted a number oftimes and
be none the worse for it. which is not the
way they do it in the Adirondacks.
American venison is higher favored
meat than English, and should be only
partly roasted before the fire, then cut in
slices half raw, placed before each guest
on chafing dish with jelly and gravy, and
warmed and cooked before the guest to in
sure perfection.
A Polish officer of distinction has sent
me the following account of hunting in his
province:
I'VE do not hunt the fox as in England.
He is shot when met in drive, or worried
out of his subterranean castle by a special
breed of dogs, the Daschund, or Texel, or
if young cubs are suspected to be in the
hole the exits as far as known are closed,
a shaft sunk to the center and the whole
brood extinguished in one way or the
other.
1--WE ride to hounds after hare. and the
speed of fox hunt is nothing when COM
pared with a cruise of the hare, for the
greyhound, used for the latter, can beat
any foxhouud in racing. No one would
ever think of water killing deer as it is
done in the Adirondacks and woe unto
him who kills doe!
.'The old-fashioned way to kill the wild
boar is to let him run on you, then kneel
on one knee, holding a hunting knife or
cutlass, double-edged. The boar. in
furiated by the dogs, rushes at YOU. If
well directed, the knife enters his breast
and heart; if it does not, then look out.
This is what is called pig-sticking in
India. Old Emperor William hunted the
boar in the royal forests near Berlin,
and King Humbert does the same
in the mountains near Rome.
Bird hunting, that of snipe, wood
cock, partridge, quail and waterfowl,
is done in the same way as here. except.
ing the use of duck batteries. There is
very little big game TO be found in
Europe, that is, the civilized parts of it;
but in some forests belonging to ROYALTY
and that ilk, the elk, the stag, the bear
and the wild boar present themselves as
target, also the bison in Russia. The elk
is purely royal game in Prussia.
Southern or upper Silesia, called the
Prussian Ireland, was famous for hunting
parties; ladies would join, and we would
drive home with lighted torches attached
to our sleighs." NJ. Z. w. SHERWOOD.
SEATTLE.