The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-03-18
OTTER HUNTING.
A Sport In Which the Game Hides In Cn.
derground Waterholes.

4 Sport In Which the Game Hides IN Tn
derground Waterholes.
Foxes and hares make their dwell.
ings in fields and in woods and coverts
which are private property and into
which the casual owner of dog may
not wander without risking the pains
and penalties of the law. but there is
no nore favorite country walk than
alo. the river or brookside. People
Of classes take their dogs for walk,
and these dogs will chivy hares and
rabbits, water rats and most other
things, but the scent OF an otter has no
more attraction for them than has the
pungent odor of an onion to a gourmet
Were not this the case the otter might
soon become extinct Ifevery dog would
stoop to his scent, and if he could be
marked, he would in many cases speed
lily be dug out, unless he CHANGED to slip
away in time by his subaqueous frons
door, and even that might be barred II
the dogs owners had an inkling that an
otter was hidden in the roots of the
tree against which they 1oll while
smoking their pipes
The trail having been struck. the OF
ter will in due time be marked-that Is,
hunted up to the hole in which he has
ensconced himself The terriers will
be called into requisition to effect a dis
lodgment, and if their efforts be at
tended with success the beginner will
see the graceful movements of his first
otter. At this stage the stranger to
otter hunting will see 6 new phase of
the chase. When with fox or stag
hounds or barriers, >the huntsman &C.
casionally has nothing to do but sit
down and ride, the scent does the rest;
or, when ne has to come to the assist
ance of the pack, he casts as experience
may suggest, or in the direction of q
friendly halloa or an uplitted hat. In
the majority of rivers, however, it Is
more than doubtful whether hounds
would ever kill one single otter during
the whole of the season were they not
aided by the master huntsman and a
few trustworthy helps On being GUST
ed from his retreat the otter is sure to
try to reach some other haven he knows
of; and SO, by constantly hunting the
comes acquainted with pretty well all
the places in which an otter can find
sanctuary; and these places, it must be
remem bered, cannot be seen like a rab-
bit-hole or culvert under road, be-
cause the entrance to them is perhaps
eighteen inches or two feet under
water. Consequently, to an even greater
extent than in other kinds of hunting,
local knowledge is necessary before
good sport can reasonably be hoped for,
as the huntsman, on getting to a fresh
trail, or owing to the otter having
eluded the vigilance of the field, will
approximately know where to expect
another mark. IF huntsnan does not
know where these underwater holes are
he cannot possibly ascertain their exist
ence, and SO any number of offers may
escape with their lives.
When, however, the hounds are first
laid on the scene is exciting enough to
rouse even the most lethargic. In go
the hounds into the water, the chorus
swells and the beauties of nature are
forgotten in the excitement of the mo-
ment The water carries scent, but
it shifts even more rapidly than it
would in a wind on land. Away go the
hounds with it and if they are fox
hounds it would be like trying to stem
the torrent to stop them with a whip or
rate; they must have their fun out and
then will return to the huntsman, who,
during the burst has allowed his head
to save his heels by standing still. If
there be deep water at hand the otter
will almost certainly decline to go
away and will keep making short jour
neys from one hole to another There
will then be SO much scent about that
the hounds cannot determine between
the earlier and the later lines. Some
times it happens that the otter, after
having been sharply hustled for awhile,
will leave the river and make his way
overland to his next point, and SO there
is need for the sharpest of eyes. So also
is there when ''loolz out below" is the
warning cry of the master on there be-
ing reason to suspect that the otter has
headed down stream To look out for
an otter passing over shallow is not
by any means such an easy thing as
watching at the corner of covert for
the departure of fox If the watcher
sit on a gate and smoke his pipe while
discharging the highly important duty
of looking out below he might as well
be watching through a field glass from
the top of some neighboring church
tower. He must bundle into the water
if necessary, and it generally is, and
must never take his eyes off the sickle
he is set to watch. This is one of the
responsible posts of otter hunting and
must not be filed IN perfunctory
manner AS q matter of fact it never
is, because the 'look-out-below'' man is
always some one who can be trusted
English Illustrated Magazine.