The DeLamar nugget. [volume] (DeLamar, Idaho) 1891-1900, 1892-11-26
GOINGLIKET THE BUFFALO
Prairie Chickens Are Growing
Scarcer Every Season.
They Have Been Unfortunately Glaugh-
tered BY Huntsrs-How the
Fowls Protect Them



west will soon be as extinct as that o.
shooting buffalo, says an Abilene cor
respondent to the New York Advertiser
The quick whir-r-r OF the bird is heart
less and less frequently, and the hunt
ers encounter q far greater warines.
than of old. Only few years ago ant
the sportsman was in clover when hi
reached the prairies of Kansas. Spe
cial cars with hunters aboard, stopped
in the midst Of the level plains ant
when the men came back it WAS with
shoulders heavily laden with the tooth
some and attractive game.
But the heartless and indiscriminatt
slaughter, in season and out of season
to which the different varieties of grouse
and quail have been subjected during
the past decade has almost ruined the
sport on the plains of Kansas, Ne
braska, Iowa and other sections of the
west. To be sure there is yet game,
but it has so decreased in quantity that
the present season sees not one-tenth
the amount that existed few wears
since.
There is little sport more enticing
than the shooting of prairie chickens
or pinnated grouse. Nothing can be
! the wild turkey. While turkey is
sought in the timber of the bottom
ands the prairie chicken lives boldly
out on the plain, and trusts to his keen
ness of vision and rapid fight to pro-
tect himself. To creep upon a flock of
the fowls at home is a sight to be re-
mcmbered. The rich, plump bodies of
the hens, shading from dark grayish
brown on the breast and wings to
light gray neck and dark head, and the
larger build of the males, with the dis
tinguishing long black feathers on the
! neck, reaching down like the ends Of a
yoke, make a delicious contrast for the
lover of rifle with the green of the
prairie sod
They are large enough to make
good, legitimate prey; they are excel
lent eating, tender, rich, gamey. But
their outposts hear you and quick,
clucking warning is given. In an in
slant every head drops, the bodies
crouch close to the ground and ap-
parently disappear. Unless you are a
practical hunter you will declare that
half a second has sufficed for some of
the birds to sink into the earth. But
they are all there. This one behind
little grass clump, that in q tiny hollow
made by some pony's foot, another
spreading its wings as it squats at the
base Of weed stalk. To the amateur
eye it is remarkable if without consid-
cradle search more than two or three
can be detected, SO closely do the colors
of the birds blend with the shadows
and tints of the sod
The professional knows that they are
all there and the bunch is speedily
flushed. In an instant they rise about
you as if suddenly created from dust
One was less than a yard from your
feet, yet you did not see it. Their
fight is peculiar one. Rising to a
height of from twenty to fifty feet,
they take horizontal course, churning
the air rapidly with the stumpy wings
until momentum is acquired, then sail-
ing with outstrctched pinions for many
rods. A prairie chicken is never awk-
ward or ridiculous except when in the |
air. On taking flight the birds do not,
like quail, go as q flock, but radiate in
every direction, SO that he is good |
gunner indeed who makes both barrels
count.
The prairie chicken is non-migratory,
and, like quail, turkey and rabbits,
might be preserved for all time If af-
forded reasonable amount Of protec-
ton. Grouse and quail can stand
close settlement Of the
country, at least one as close as most
parts of the west will admit of, and
with the proper enforcement of rigidly
drafted game laws, rs well as a manly
on the part of the sports
men themselves, would preserve the
now unequal ratio between the increase
Ind slaughter AS it is now there is
no protection, and from
June to December the markets of west
,rn cities show forbidden game. 1t is
lot alone grouse, but quail, wild tur-
Scys and other varieties suffer. Poach-
RS go with dogs out Of season and bring
n loads of the pretty game, and it finds
is way mysteriously into the stalls of
he cities.
Kansas and Nebraska have laws pro-
ibiting the killing or Offering for sale
f birds except from September 1 to
anuary 1. Yet SO fagrantly has the
NV been violated that it has become
ecessary for sportsmen's clubs to offer
urses for information regarding viola.
ion in order to prevent entire extermi-
alton. 1t will take but a short time to
ut an end to the sport at the present
ate of decrease
The famous civilian scout Burgess,
Tho is attached to the government post
i Yellowstone park, gives some inter- :
sting facts regarding the increase of
anne since severe measures have been +
lken with the poaching trapper. The
X, he says, are now in such abundance
lat they promise to give game to the !,
inter in season for many years to =