Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1892-08-04
ooo-HuNTlNe.
Some of the Features of This New Source
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Some of the Features of This New Source
OF Excitement.
While the daily press is filed with the
doings Of hunters all over the world,
and while an unprecedented amount of
valuable space is being given to out
door sports, one never sees word about
the most exciting sport to be found in
this vicinity-the noble sport of dog
hunting.
Yet it is pursued week in and week
out in the streets of the metropolis in
winter as well as in midsummer.
It is probable that several circum-
stances have contributed to the OBJ
security amid which dog-hunters pursue
their avocation- They are not members
of fashionable society; they do not dress
after the English mode; no bugle sounds
their tally-ho; no bang-tailed hunters
bound under their spurs Instead, they
are humble men, wearing each several
suits OF very humble clothes, and riding
on very disreputable wagons, drawn by
mysteriously formed quadrupeds of
crablike gait.
But, worse than all else, these hunt
ers work for gold. The city pays them
forty cents for every dog they capture,
and that is their sole incentive.
The hunt begins before daylight, say
six o'clock in the winter-time and three
o'clock in the summer. The party ordi-
narily consists of two men with one
! horse and covered wagon-an old ba-
kers wagon-with a strong wire graf
ing closing the rear. and a trap-door
closing the front This trap-door is
about eighteen inches high and extends
the full width of the wagon front. The
hinges are on the lower side, so that it
will fall down and remain open when
its fastenings are removed.
The dogs are caught with the bare
hands, the men making no more of be-
ing bitten than if the animals were
mosquitoes. Their hands, arms and
legs are SCARED with canine teeth, yet
hydrophobia is unknown and unfeared
among them. Once in a while some
green-horn dog-catcher uses net, and
goes charging about on a wagon like a
| lunatic polo player, but he is derided
! alike by men and dogs, and soon finds
there is nothing like the bare hands
| The animals thus caught are of all
kinds, big and little, old and young
gentle and simple, grave and gay, male
| and female. Some are like raging
| demons, and therein lies the oppor
| tunity for adventure.
To amateur sportsmen who may de
sire to try this new source of excite
ment AID adventure few suggestion:
may be of service:
1. AS you approach the dog, look hin
square in the eye and smile.
| 2. Make some remark bout his health
or good appearance
! 8. Have your right arm extended it
| full length.
f. Seize one of his hind legs in you
right hand, whirl him swiftly up in tn,
air and round and round your head
| 5. Keep whirling him swiftly till 70,
are able to throw him into your in
| closed wagon.
A course of Indian club swingins
should precede the first efforts Of tn.
amateur; but if the directions givel
above are closely followed there is n,
danger in ninety per cent of cases. II
the other ten per cent the hunters vii
probably be used as bull dogs as ex
ceptions to prove the rule. In the yea
1890, $3.50 dogs dogs We're caught L
the end of July of last year, 4, s23 dog
We're impounded, of which numbe
4,414 were destroyed, and the remainde
redeemed by payment of So EACH
| Harper Weekly.