The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1894-03-25
A HUNTERS PARADISE.
within Easy Reach n Land Of Game, Whore
tho Waters Teen with Fish.

Especial Correspondence
INDIANoLA. Tex, March 20 90 Captain
Fletcher of New York aud your correspond
ent have come down 10 southern Texas in
search Of health and incidentally OF game
We asked the landlord Of our hotel at Tex
ana what supplies we should need for our
proposed hunting trip along the shores Of
Matagorda bay.
supplies he repeated. "Why, except
little cornmeal -four. salt, and such like,
with jug of something TO help along your
bait, you won't want anything. The bay
swarms with swans and all kinds Of duck
The water is alive with fish. You can't see
the sand for oysters. And as for deer and
bear, If You land at the mouth Of the San
Bernard and hunt in the bottoms you can
find such game till you get weary a-shoot-
ing. Trust Pat He knows what you want
and just where 70 take You"
Despite he rather Celtic front name, Pat
was "A coal black negro of 40, who for 20
years or more had acted as guide to sports
men in this paradise for game Pats son
Link an abbreviation Of Lincoln, we
learned-was engaged TO assist his father,
and he proved to be so active and efficient
that it looked as il his father assisted him.
Before coming here | often wondered
where the wild geese brant, swans and all
the varieties Of ducks that make their way
north every spring spent their winters.
Now the problem is solved. They come to
southern Texas and show their wisdom in
the choice.
Back for 80 miles from the gulf Of Mex
ico-or rather, from the long series Of bays
and lagoons separated from it. by low
sandy islands-the prairies are alive with
geese brant and sand hill cranes. They are
so thick that it seems thlsportsmanlike TO
shoot them. They Craze with the cattle
and seem SO Indifferent TO men on horse
back that it would require no skill TO kill
them with a pistol
From Texsna edrove down to the place,
where Pat, who had preceded rs, had
sloop ready. The vessel bore evidence Of
hard service but there was place 10 sleep
and cook, aud that was all we cared for
II we had been pot shooters, we should
have been deferred from our trip by the
fact that at all the settlements along the
gulf venison and wild fowl could be bought
for about the price Of the ammunition ex-
pended in procuring them. As we sailed
eastward l was interested 20 learn that,
while the geese and their first cousins, the
brant, spend their days on the prairies aud
only come down 10 the water at night,
the ducks, of which we got eight varieties,
and the swans keep afioat nearly all the
time. The latter looked like great white
balls on the dancing malachite waters. and
when frightened by the sloop they took TO
the air aud flew away with a grace and ma
jestic sweep Of wing that were worth com
ing many miles to see.
According TO Pat, swans is mighty good
eatin wlin one can't git nawthin bettah,
but had they been the veriest carriou the
"a III 1.
Us in graceful flights was TOO great e. be re
sisted. Captain Fletcher and myself bagged
four an hour after leaving lndianola, and
We might have filed the sloop without per
ceptibly reducing the flocks about us We
discovered an island hummock on which
grew splendid grove of live oaks, and here
we made camp for the night. We found
an abundance Of driftwOod on the shore
and soon had q campfire roaring, AT which
Pat and his son cooked the oysters, fish
and ducks we had brought from the bay.
Anything more wildly picturesque than
our camp it would he difficult 10 imagine.
Pendent through the glistening green Of
the live oaks were long, swaying plumes
of gray Spanish moss, AN excellent sub
stance. as We found. for bed. The air was
as balmy as a Maryland May day. 80 that
we needed no shelter hut our blankets.
From the water came the ceaseless croak-
ing and quacking of wild fowl The lap Of
the incoming tide aud the swish Of the out
going river, the droning Of insects, attract
ed by the fire, and the murmuring Of the
sea breeze through the overhead branches,
all made Us feel that we were in an ideal
hunters camp and far removed from "the
worlds madding strife"
After a supper that King might have
envied, eaten with appetites worth a mil
lionaire's wealth, we lit our pipes, and too
full of the intensely peaceful enjoyment Of
our strange surroundings smoked in silence
till TO- Then we lay down ON the Spanish
moss. nor knew that insomnia or dreams
troubled men. &. A. r.
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