The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1891-02-01

| - P0eh. w uCu I0buTuou W Iuc lOuSO
Tor rest and drink the old game keeper
quietly expressed to my friend his disgust
Ior me as gunner. For if there is any one
tning In the world that the keeper detests
! IL is man who viii miss his second grouse
but thls wing shooting was too much for
me, and as an Englishmau would regard it
as an objectionable sin to kill bird except
IN the air, was not in the game, and hav-
ing pressing business in London quietly
lett the moor the next day, leaving my host
10 ENJOY what he regards as the greatest
sport known to men. | can imagine that to a
good shot, who can pick his bird as it flies
there Is much of zest and life in the stand
OF the dog and the whir of the grouse. But
to me the lessons 1 learned were of far more
interest.
MY VISIT TO THE PERTHsHIRE MooRs
was not made to ascertain my skill as a
wing shot, but TO learn some actual fact in
the breeding and care of game that must
soon become a serious question in the
United States as it has long since been in
this mother country. l was richly repaid
Tor my trouble, because the life is so
strange, the scenes among the Highlands SO
unusual, the spirit of the people so frank
ana their economy so systematic, that l got
a fresh view of strange nationality, he
sides gathering the story of shooting where
1t IS done and rubbed up against the person
atty of its every condition.
A Scotch moor is a beautiful place. Its
lines are laid among the hills which some
times rise to mountain height. There are
quaint little towns hid here and there along
the road to shooting lodge, and always the
vine covered kirk, in some quiet nook.
where the evidences OF Scotch industry are
apparentin well-tilled patches, and the gen
eral air of cleanliness and comeliness, which
IS ever present about the homes of even the
humblest people ii these isles
a look over the miles of crimson and pur-
pie heather which make up moor of any
pretensions is study. The ground is rug
ged and uneven with here and there patch
OF TIMBER to add to the general loneliness
which surrounds all desolate and unculti-
waited land.
FROM CLUNY LODGE
the scene of hill sweep, stream, underbrush.
fresh outgrowth and tree settles away into
a rugged back ground which marks the
division between the deer lands and the bird
shooting. On the latter, the beautiful
heather and its flowers grow thickly little
more than a foot from the ground giving
both rich food and shelter to the game
which is fostered and fattened for the
sportsman's gun. These uncultivated acres
are as carefully guarded as the farm lands
where the grain grows. For in this old
land the game has long ago been killed off
moors are watched to see that the ignorant
man does not set the heather on fire and thus
destroy the meeting places of the gunner's
pride.
a game keepers duties are by no means
easy. He has TO attend to the entire moor,
preserve it from the flames, watch the con-
| d1t1on OF the birds, look after their nesting
as much as possible and to feed them occa-
sIonally during the severe weather. He
must at all times know the condition of the
moor, and the outlook for shooting long be-
fore the season begins. AS rule they are
trusty servants, taking great pride in their
occupation. Most Of the moors are owned
by large land proprietors who rent out
shooting Tor term of years 1t is not an
unusual thing for a rich man to control a
moor of $4,000 acres or more.
MIR. wlNANs, OF BALTIMORE,
owns the most extensive deer and shooting
range in Scotland, and there has been II o
end OF complaint about this one man con-
hunting purposes.
On great many Of these moors besides
sport for the gun there is excellent fishing
and trout and salmon are taken in large
quantities. The capacities of these
BOXES" for sport are reckoned at
SO many guns, and so many rods,
and the price fixed accordingly.
The limits of mans renting is clearly I'm
| derstood, and no honorable man will hunt
or fish beyond it. Even if man ftushes a
| bird and 1t flies beyond the boundaries Of
MS moor he will not follow, but wait Tor its
return and as they very generally come
| back to their breeding place he is fairly sure
to get 1t sooner or later. In surrounding
the preservation of game with such strin-
gent restrictions, both of honor and law,
shooting is kept in fair condition during the
! months when allowed. This kind of sport
is very expensive, and every grouse killed
costs the rich sportsman q great deal more
than 1t brings IN the market, but the Eng
lishman does not murmur at the expense
and only Kicks when the sport is not good
TO THE AVERAGE AMERICAN
the interest taken here in the 18th of
August is a marvel. Not only those who go
TO the moorS to shoot are filled with the
spirit Of the day, but in every town OF Great
Britain the game shops are eagerly watched
to see the hrSt grouse displayed, and there
is an unheard of rivalry, not only to kill
but TO market the first bird. The shop
windows in the larger cities are manv of
them dressed with heather and stuffed birds
and men wear sprlg OF heather bloom in
their buttonholes instead of a rose The
first birds IN market bring an extravagart
price, generally as much as 81 30 piece.
Later ID the day they can be bought for
dollar, and within three or four days after
the 18th for so cents each.
/ have written so much about the heather
and the bloom that the natural inquiry will
DC as to the part 1t plays in the grouse econ
omy. Ii havors the Brio as well as protects
it during the nesting and growing season.
Heather IS to tue grouse what wild celery
IS to our canvas back duck. Without that
remarka BIO vegetable, which grows luxuri
ously IN our Chesapeake bay, Englishmen
would not be willing TO pay So a piece for
the little pieces of breast which are cut
from our canvas back, which, by the way.
are regarded as the greatest delicacv in
this country of any sea fowl known. have
cut open the CraW Of many one in the
waters OF my own home to take nose full
OF the ricn scent which comes from wild
celery. | had the same experience with
the craw Of a grouse freshly killed on the
18th with the flavor of the heather bloom
all through it.
THE QUEENS SHOOTING MOOR
at Balmoral, much further north than
Perthshire. 1t is quaint old place in the
Highlands, very quiet and secluded, but
surrounded with natural scenes of great
beauty. 1t is about ten or twelve miles
from the railroad station of Ballater be-
yond Aberdeen and is shut out from the
world IN a most romantic fashion, for the
Queen has a strong vein of sentiment run
ming through her nature. Of course here
game keepers are always anxious to kill and
ship the first grouse of the season to Her
Majesty and the Prince of Wales. but this
year the birds were displayed in the Lon
don market before the royal game keepers
had reached Ballater with their consign
ment for the royal household.
This hurried view of the interest taken
In England in the sports of the field can
hardly give to any one fair idea of the
note taken of the opening lay The na,ys